The Indian Express 09.10.2013
5 more sites sold on 2nd day of GMADA auction
FIVE more sites out of 23 sites put up for auction by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) were sold for Rs 13.53 crore against a reserve price of Rs 11.1 crore on the second and final day of the auction on Tuesday.
With this, the total number of sites sold off went up to 10 out of a total of 51 sites put under the hammer.
Significantly, less than 50 people turned up for the auction at PUDA Bhawan, Sector 62.
While a nursing home site in Sector 67 was sold for Rs 5.12 crore against a reserve price of Rs 4.1 crore, four shops-cum-offices (SCOs) in Sector 56 were sold for around Rs 2.1 crore each against a reserve price of Rs 1.75 crore each. Former mayor of Chandigarh Raj Bala Malik bought an SCO in Sector 56 for Rs 2 crore.
Two nursing home sites, 11 residential sites and 10 commercial sites were put under the hammer on Tuesday. While none of the residential plots was bought, all four SCOs of Sector 56 were bought, lifting the spirits of the GMADA authorities. In the commercial plots category, GMADA only put up SCOs and there were no booths or showrooms on auction.
The two-day auction of residential plots, commercial sites, nursing home sites, group housing sites and a site for school has generated a sum of around Rs 54 crore for GMADA against a reserve price of Rs 48.71 crore. "The response has been reasonably well as we have managed to sell off sites worth more than Rs 50 crore. Considering the current market conditions, we are satisfied with the response," said Additional Chief Administrator (GMADA) Manjot Kaur, who presided over the auction.
Chief Administrator (GMADA) A K Sinha agreed that the target was not achieved but said the response was good enough under the prevailing conditions.
However, Shalinder Anand, chairman of Mohali Property Consultants' Association, blamed the poor response on the current slowdown and the land-pooling scheme. "The auction should not have been conducted during a festival season when nobody is interested in buying property. Moreover, the land pooling scheme by the government, which attracts a better response, has led to the poor turnout at GMADA auctions," he said.
On Monday, 28 sites were put up for auction, out of which only five sites — two commercial and three residential —were sold. None of the group housing sites was sold. Out of the residential plots sold, the two sites in Sector 68 fetched Rs 2.7 crore and Rs 2.78 crore against a reserve price of Rs 2.63 crore each while another one in Sector 69 was sold for Rs 4.02 crore against a reserve price of Rs 3.95 crore.
The total reserve price of the 51 sites auctioned was around Rs 277.5 crore.
The response has been worse than in June this year when there were only 18 successful bidders for a total of 66 sites put on auction while two successful bidders had backed out. Around Rs 17.5 crore were fetched in that auction, with mostly booths attracting the successful bidders. No booths were put up for auction this time. The response to GMADA auctions has been consistent for the last several years. It was only in November 2011 that 42 out of 61 sites were sold.
