Park and Ride Plaza: Less than half the shops sold

The total revenue generated by the LDA was Rs211.45 million.


Shahram Haq January 26, 2011

LAHORE: Thirteen of the 31 shops at the Park and Ride Plaza were auctioned during the first open auction held on Wednesday.

The event organised by the Lahore Development Authority failed to attract a large crowd of investors. Only 62 people showed up to participate in the auction. The highest bid was made for shop no1. It was bought for Rs20.2 million by Javed Iqbal. The reserve price for the 222-square-feet shop was Rs14.8 million. Shop no2 and no13 followed with bids of Rs19.3 million and Rs19.025 million. The asking prices were Rs 14.3 million Rs15.1 million, respectively.

The total revenue generated by the LDA was Rs211.45 million. The shop no 1,2,3,5,7,13,14,15,16,17,18,19 and 20 were sold. All of these shops were located on the ground floor. Shop no 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 21,22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31 failed to attract any investor. The LDA officials tried to auction these shops a second time but no investor showed interest. Talking to The Express Tribune, Naeem Ahmad, who won the bid for shop no13, said he was not satisfied with the auction.

He said he suspected some bidders had been planted by the LDA to raise the prices of the shops. He said he was not confident about the prospects for the shop he had bought.

Another successful bidder said he was not interested in starting a business at the shop. “I have purchased it so that my son can benefit from it in future,” he said.

Ishtiaq Chauhadry, the LDA Estate Management wing director, said the auction had been a success. The remaining shops would soon be auctioned again. He blamed poor law and order for the low turnout of investors.

Meanwhile, a rally was taken out by the Liberty Market traders in front of the plaza in protest against a ban on parking in front of their shops.

Protestors said the ban was harming their businesses. Mian Haroon, leading the rally, said the LDA was damaging business worth more than Rs70 billion only to save its plaza worth Rs700 million.

Dilawar Shah, another protestor, said that if the ban on parking was not reversed the traders would call a series of protests. “we will take out protest rallies and block the main road on a daily basis,” he said.

Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency (TEPA) director Israr Saeed tried to convince the traders to call off the rally but he failed. The traders chanted slogans against the LDA and the provincial government.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27th,  2011.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ