Chandigarh, Nov 12: Two years after shelving two housing projects at the IT Park, the Chandigarh Administration is reconsidering residential development in the area — this time through individual plots instead of group housing.
Officials said Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria has directed the UT Chief Architect to explore the feasibility of carving out residential plots for sale at the IT Park. The shift in approach marks a revival of the idea of housing in the city’s IT hub, which had been stalled since 2023.
In September 2023, the administration had scrapped both a general housing scheme and a government housing project after they failed to secure mandatory environmental clearances. The general housing project, which was almost finalised, was planned on 16.6 acres at an estimated cost of ₹643 crore, while government flats were to be built on 6.73 acres.
The Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) had earmarked 123 acres in the IT Park for housing projects, a five-star hotel, a hospital, and a school. Officials said the new plan to develop plots instead of flats could be a more viable option given past regulatory hurdles.
Separately, Kataria also reviewed the long-pending general housing scheme in Sector 53. He directed the Chief Architect to explore dividing the 8.975 acres allotted to CHB into two portions, one of which could be sold to private developers. “The idea is to make the project financially sustainable and simultaneously affordable, especially for the economically weaker sections,” an official said.
The Administrator also instructed the department to examine the possibility of increasing the floor area ratio (FAR), building height, and density to attract investment and keep costs manageable.
The CHB had earlier proposed 372 flats in the Sector 53 project. As per revised estimates after the new collector rates took effect on April 1 this year, a three-bedroom HIG flat was to cost ₹2.3 crore — 39.39% higher than the previous estimate of ₹1.65 crore. A two-bedroom MIG flat was pegged at ₹1.97 crore, up 40.71% from ₹1.4 crore, while a two-room EWS unit would cost around ₹74 lakh, up 34.34% from ₹55 lakh.
Kataria has also asked the CHB to assess the feasibility of building government rental accommodation on land in Sector 54, recently transferred to the board. The rent paid for such housing is to match the employees’ current house rent allowance (HRA).
He further directed the Estate Department to draft a comprehensive policy for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), defining eligibility norms for flat allotments. In the absence of such a policy, neither the CHB nor the Municipal Corporation can float new housing schemes or auction land for housing development, officials noted.
