Auction: No shop sold at Park and Ride Plaza

Lahore Development Authority auction failed to attract bids for the 15 shops at Park and Shop Plaza in Moon Market.

LAHORE: The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) auction on Monday failed to attract bids for the 15 shops at Park and Shop Plaza in Moon Market. 

However, seven out of Allama Iqbal Town’s 32 plots were sold for a total of Rs65.7 million. An open auction of 15 shops of Park and Shop Plaza and commercial and residential plots of Johar Town, Sabazazar, Jubilee Town and Mustafa Town was held at the LDA Community Centre in New Muslim Town.

As many as 88 bidders participated in the event.  An LDA official on condition of anonymity said high prices were fixed for shops of the plaza. He said LDA might have to review the prices to attract more buyers. The highest bid of the day was for commercial plot number 404, Block D-II, in Johar Town. The 16-marlas plot went against against Rs29.5 million. Its base price had been fixed at Rs1.5 million per marla and it fetched a price of Rs1.83 million per marla.

The base price had been set by evaluators from the State Bank of Pakistan.  Members of the auction committee from the LDA included Finance Director Zaheer Asghar Rana and Estate Management Director Muazzam Rasheed. Rasheed said he wasn’t sure why there had been no bids. He said local traders had undermined the bidding process in the case of Liberty Park and Ride auction.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2013.