Chandigarh, August 19: Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) is set to launch a long-pending housing scheme in Sector 53, nearly nine years after its last general housing plan. The scheme, which includes five-storey flats, will be placed before Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria for final approval, officials said.
The proposed project covers about nine acres and will comprise 192 high-income group (HIG) units, 100 middle-income group (MIG) houses and 80 economically weaker section (EWS) flats. The HIG flats will feature two levels of basement parking. Sources said environmental clearance has already been secured, and an application will now be sent to the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) for necessary approvals.
Kataria had recently cleared the self-financing housing scheme that had been stalled for several years due to pricing disputes. The board has now reworked costs in line with new collector rates introduced on April 1 this year.
According to tentative estimates, a three-bedroom HIG flat will cost ₹2.3 crore, marking a 39.39% increase from the earlier price of ₹1.65 crore. Two-bedroom MIG flats will be priced at ₹1.97 crore, higher by 40.71% from the previously proposed ₹1.4 crore. Similarly, two-room EWS flats will cost ₹74 lakh, up 34.34% from the earlier tentative cost of ₹55 lakh.
The revised scheme comes amid strong demand. During a 10-day demand survey conducted between February 22 and March 3 this year, CHB received 7,468 applications. Of these, 5,081 were for three-bedroom HIG units, 1,269 for two-bedroom MIG flats, and 1,118 for EWS units. Nearly 68% of the applications were for HIG flats alone, officials noted.
The plan had previously faced setbacks. In August 2023, then UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit stalled the project, calling it unnecessary, which led to the cancellation of ₹200-crore construction tenders for 372 flats. The last CHB housing scheme was launched in 2016, offering 200 two-bedroom units in Sector 51.
