The Hindu : Front Page : Auctions in Capital fetch crores

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 23, 2006

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Auctions in Capital fetch crores

Staff Reporter

Some of the plots go for 200 p.c. more than the reserved price

NEW DELHI: An open auction of 24 residential plots at Jasola in South Delhi fetched the Delhi Development Authority a princely sum of Rs. 83.26 crores on Tuesday. The grand total was nearly Rs. 50 crores more than the reserved price kept for these plots.

DDA Commissioner (Housing) Asma Manzar said all the plots auctioned during the day were in Jasola and so there was not much of a deviation in the rates. The maximum bid of Rs. 4.8 crores was for a corner plot measuring 270 square metres.

With a total of 37 plots having been auctioned in the first two days of auctions undertaken by the DDA, 34 plots are still to go under the hammer. On the first day of the auction on Monday, 13 residential plots were up for grabs and a sum of Rs. 53.78 crores was realised. The highlight of the day was the auction of a 275 square metre corner plot in upmarket Green Park that was sold for Rs. 4.98 crores.

DDA officials said the auctions had shown that firming of land prices in Delhi was not a myth. "While all the plots have fetched much more than the reserved price, Jasola appears to have become the most attractive place realising almost 200 per cent more than the reserved price. Plots for which the reserved price was Rs. 1.6 crores have sold for around Rs. 4.5 crores.''

Over the three days of auction, DDA is selling plots in some of the Capital's most prime locations like Green Park, Jasola, Dwarka, Prashant Vihar, Vikaspuri and Shivaji Enclave. With individuals -- paying in white money -- bidding for all the plots to make residential properties, officials said the latest round of auction had shown where exactly the property prices stand.

The auction has also encouraged the DDA, which has started issuing brochures for its residential housing scheme under which 3,500 flats will be allotted all over Delhi.

This is the first general scheme of DDA to have been launched since the Festival Housing Scheme-2004 in which about 2,500 flats were allotted.

Come September, DDA would follow this up with the auction of 10 hotel plots in different parts of the Capital. While the reserve price for these plots has been put at nearly Rs. 2,700 crores, judging by the way the property prices have appreciated, DDA is now expecting to reap a windfall. The additional revenue, officials said, would be utilised for taking up other developmental projects in the Capital.

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