Investor interest wanes as CDA sells six plots for Rs230 million

Residential plots in Sectors D-12/3, G-10/2 and F-11/2 were sold

ISLAMABAD: After an intense rally on the first day of its four-day auction, the top civic agency of the city could only sell six plots on Tuesday. But they raised Rs230 million from the sale of these plots.

The auction was held by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) at the Jinnah Convention Centre in Islamabad. The first two days of the auction had been reserved for the auction of residential plots in the developed sectors of the federal capital while April 10 and 11 have been reserved for the sale of industrial plots.

The CDA had put up 38 residential plots for sale during the auction in Sectors G-10/2, F-10/2, F-10/3, F-11/2, D-12/1, and D-12/3. The plots are of different sizes, with the smallest ones measuring 111.11 square yards in Sector D-12/1 and the largest plots measuring 600 square yards in Sector F-10/3.

On the first day, it sold 25 of these, raising a billion rupees. It offered the remaining 13 plots on the second day, but it seems investor interest had waned by then, with none of the plots getting a bid higher than the ones received for plots on Monday.

On Tuesday, CDA sold the 500 square yards (sq yds) residential plot 311, on Street 17 of Sector D-12/3 for Rs76,000 per square yard.

Plot 312 on Street 17 in Sector D-12/3, measuring 500 sqyd, was sold for Rs75,000 per sq yd.

In Sector G-10/2, plot 26 on Street 25, measuring 444.44 sq yd received a bid of Rs83,000 per sq yd.

Similarly, plot 27 on Street 25 of Sector G-10/2, measuring 444.44 sq yd received a bid of Rs82,000 per sq yd. Plot 28 on Street 25 in Sector G-10/2, measuring 444.44 sqyd, was sold for Rs84,000 per sqyd.

Plot 183-D on Street 21 in Sector F-11/2, measuring 400 sq yd received a bid of Rs110,000 per sq yd.

Cumulatively, CDA officials said that they had raised Rs1.254 billion over the past two days for selling 31 plots.

CDA officials, though, claimed that they had received bids for 82 per cent of all residential plots put up for sale while the bids were 40-45 per cent higher than the previous auction’s results.

The auction proceedings were supervised by the auction committee headed by CDA’s Member Finance.

BCS meeting

Some of the leading architects and town planners in the federal capital on Tuesday suggested that the CDA improve building parameters and workflow.

This was suggested during a meeting of the Planning and Architecture committee of the Building Control Section (BCS) at the CDA conference room.

The objective of the meeting was to receive input from the experts in the field regarding improvements in building parameters as well as workflow.

The CDA chief, who participated in the session, said that they have initiated an exercise to streamline their processes and to make them transparent and user-friendly.  He added that further sessions are also in the pipeline. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 10^th, 2019.