Revival of the Eco City-3 project bodes well for New Chandigarh

Rajmeet Singh

Real estate scene is hotting up in New Chandigarh in Mohali district with Greater Mohali Area development Authority (GMADA) finally pushing the much delayed Eco City-3 project.

Aerotropolis project on slow track

• Though GMADA has started development of roads, the ‘Aerotropolis’ scheme of GMADA is on slow track as a case regarding around 250 acres is pending in the court since 2021. This could delay launching of the project.
• The development authority had sent the case to the court as the landlords had got their land registered after notification of Section 11 of the Land Acquisition Act. The Act pertains to

  preliminary notification for acquiring land and calling objections from landowners.

The 750-acre project of GMADA aims at developing residential, commercial and institutional properties in the vicinity of Chandigarh.

Seen as a major push for the realty sector, GMADA proposes to complete the acquisition proceedings in the coming months so that residential, commercial and institutional properties can be offered.

The land for the project is being acquired in Rasulpur, Salamatpur, Dhode Majra, Takipur, Rajgarh, Majra, Kartarpur, Kansala and Hoshiarpur villages, which fall in Kharar Sub-Division.

The project has already witnessed sale and purchase of the project land as the buyers can avail benefit of the land pooling scheme.

The land will be acquired on the basis of Punjab’s land pooling policy, according to which for every acre, landowners will get plots of size of 500,400,100 square yards. In case of commercial land to be allotted no option would be given to the land owners in choosing the size of the plot.

The government is eyeing a revenue of over ~2,000 crore, once the project is launched, said a senior functionary of the Housing Department.

The project was proposed in 2016, but in July 2020, GMADA was forced to scrap the acquisition process owing to a shortage of funds, and poor response to its land pooling scheme. GMADA resumed the process of acquiring land for the project again in August 2022.

After GMADA scrapped the project in July 2020, there was speculation that the state government was not interested in developing the project and may even hand over it to a private player. But the state government has now extended the notification for land acquisition under Section 11 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act till December 4, this year.

Subsequently, the further notifications and announcing of land compensation awards would be made.