Curation Team
CHANDIGARH: Dormant for nearly a decade, the Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) is finally waking up to the housing needs of the city. Even as CHB prepares to launch the Sector 53 self-financing housing scheme, plans are afoot to develop a new housing scheme in Sector 54.
“The CHB has been allocated around 32 acres in Sector 54. Recently, a meeting on the land availability in the city for different purposes was held under the chairmanship of the UT administrator. The Sector 54 land chunk also came up for discussion. The nod was given to go ahead with the conceptualisation and planning for the creation of housing for the general public on the plot,” said a senior UT official.
As per the initial estimates, around 1,700 flats can come up in the area. The planning process for the new housing scheme is likely to be finalised in four to six months. “Currently, the CHB has possession of around 14 acres of the land. The possession of the 18-acre land is to be given by the estate office and the UT engineering department,” said the official.
CHB is the main housing creator in the city. A major chunk of vacant residential land still available in the city has been allocated to CHB. In addition to around 100 acres on Vikas Marg, another major landholding with the CHB is in the Chandigarh IT Park area, of more than 100 acres. CHB was planning to come up with two housing projects in IT Park, but both were stalled after failing to get approval from the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL).
Meanwhile, even as CHB officials contend that the competent authority has given the go-ahead for the Sector 53 housing scheme and it would be launched soon, a number of procedural approvals are still pending for the scheme, it is learnt. “The deposit money of the applicants who participated in the demand survey for the scheme earlier this year has been refunded after the apartment prices were hiked following the collector rate increase. Applications will be invited afresh for the project after its launch,” said the official.
The scheme has been hanging fire for more than seven years now. The housing scheme was to be launched in 2018, but a demand survey revealed that there were not many takers for the scheme due to the high cost of dwelling units. The scheme was revived in 2023. However, the administration decided against launching it. It was put on hold in 2023 as the administration decided that new housing was needed for the time being. It was again revived in 2024, and a fresh demand survey was conducted in 2025.
Originally, 492 flats were planned. In 2022, for the revival of the scheme, CHB dropped the plan to construct 100 one-room flats. Now, CHB plans to offer 372 flats in three categories — 192 three-bedroom, 100 two-bedroom, and 80 two-bedroom EWS flats. “The decision on the construction of one-room flats will be at a later stage,” said the official.
