First proposed in 2018, housing scheme in Chandigarh's Sector 53 gets governor's nod

Indian Express

27-06-2025

Chandigarh is set to witness a new residential housing scheme after a gap of nearly nine years. On Thursday, Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria gave the official nod to the Chandigarh Housing Board's (CHB's) long-delayed, self-financing housing project in Sector 53.
The stalled project—it was first proposed in 2018—will now move forward with updated prices aligned with the current collector rates, effective from April 1.
According to the CHB, the tentative price of a high-income group (HIG) three-bedroom flat has been set at Rs 2.30 crore, marking a 39.39 per cent hike from the earlier estimate of Rs 1.65 crore. A two-bedroom flat in the middle-income group (MIG) category will now cost Rs 1.97 crore, reflecting a 40.71 per cent increase from the previous Rs 1.40 crore. The cost of a flat under the economically weaker sections (EWS) category has been revised to Rs 74 lakh, up 34.34 per cent from Rs 55 lakh.
The scheme, which had faced repeated delays and was even shelved in 2023, saw renewed momentum after an overwhelming response to a fresh demand survey conducted from February 22 to March 3 this year. A total of 7,468 applications were received—5,081 for HIG units, 1,269 for MIG, and 1,118 for EWS flats—indicating strong demand, especially for 3BHK units, which made up nearly 68 per cent of the total applications.
The upcoming project includes 192 HIG units, 100 MIG houses, and 80 EWS flats, to be developed on approximately nine acres of land in Sector 53.
This is the CHB's first major housing scheme since the 2016 launch of 200 two-bedroom flats in Sector 51. An earlier effort in 2020 to revive the scheme had failed to attract buyers, with only 148 applications received against the 492 planned units. The CHB had to cancel the survey and refund the deposits.
However, renewed interest in city real estate and successful auctions of vacant CHB flats encouraged the Board to revisit the plan.
In May 2023, the CHB had approved the construction of 372 flats. But the scheme was again halted in August 2023 by the then UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit, who deemed it unnecessary, leading to the cancellation of Rs 200 crore worth of construction tenders.
2018: CHB proposes new housing scheme with 492 units
2019: Demand survey initiated
2020: Scheme scrapped due to poor response
May 2023: CHB revives project with 372 flats
Aug 2023: Scheme halted by then UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit
2025: CHB receives 7,468 applications in latest survey