The Indian Express 07.11.2013
Parking lot auction: Highest bid for Sec 35, lowest for Sec 22
The Municipal Corporation earned Rs 3.31 crore by auctioning 15 paid parking lots in different parts of the city. The highest bid was for the paid parking lot in Sector 35-C that was auctioned for Rs 67.05 lakh. Of the 16 paid parking lots that were up for auction, one received no takers.
The civic body had scheduled the auction for August but it flopped after contractors refused to bid for the paid parking lots as service tax at the rate 12.36 per cent was being charged.
The contractors demanded that the MC reduce the reserve price or increase parking charges. Following this, the reserve price was reduced and the auction was held on Wednesday.
Against the reserve price of Rs 43.25 lakh, the paid parking lot in Sector 35 was auctioned for Rs 67.05 lakh. The Idle Truck parking in Sector 26 was auctioned for Rs 61.10 lakh against the reserve price of Rs 36.86 lakh. Another parking lot in Sector 35 B was auctioned for Rs 25.05 lakh. One parking lot near Piccadily in Sector 34 was auctioned for Rs 10.85 lakh, just a little above the reserve price of Rs 10.80 lakh. While a parking lot near the mall found no takers.
In Sector 17, the MOH parking lot was auctioned for Rs 9.40 lakh. This parking lot has in the past found no takers as a large number of government vehicles are parked here due to the presence of several offices. A parking lot in Bank Square in the same sector was auctioned for Rs 20.01 lakh. Due to the work on construction of the underground parking going on in one parking lot, the pressure on the others has increased.
The auctions of paid parking lots held by the civic body over a period of time have not been successful. In fact, several contractors had surrendered the parking lots. For the others the term for which these were auctioned had come to an end.
Additional Commissioner Sunil Bhatia said that the auction was quite favourable. The MC had reduced the reserve price as well, which proved beneficial, he said.
