CHB to construct 1,139 flats at IT Park

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 23

With the swimming pool and club facilities, the Chandigarh  Housing  Board (CHB) is coming  up with two new  housing  projects at Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park (IT Park). Sources said under the projects,  1,139   flats of various types  would be constructed on 17 acres. 

 While the  Architecture Department of the Administration  has  approved the  layout plan for the  two projects,  the CHB today floated  global  tenders to appoint a private consultant  to design the  flats. This  is the  first  time  that a private  consultant  is being engaged  by the CHB for designing  flats. The private consultant   will not only design the projects, but will also get the  necessary  approvals such as environmental clearance from plan-approval  committees. The consultant will be  given  nine months to complete  the task.

Sources said the  flats would be stylish like those developed by private builders. The buyers  would get a modern kitchen and trendy interiors.

The  CHB is coming  up with the projects  on the land it got from Parsvnath Developers  after a long legal battle. In 2006,  the  CHB had decided to develop residential flats with  the developers on a sharing basis,  but  due to a hurdle in clearing land of encroachments  and other issues, Parsvnath Developers backed  out from the  project.

The sources  said it would be the  first housing  project  of the   CHB with a swimming pool and a gymnasium in each block. Besides three,  two and  one-bedroom flats, flats for economically weaker sections  would also  be constructed. The sources  said though the  rates  of the flats  had not been decided yet, these would definitely  be costlier than the  flats  in other sectors  due to the high collector rates  of the  area. Though the  CHB is finding it tough to sell its  sites  for schools and a hospital,  it is hoping to get a good response  to its  housing projects.