The City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) on Thursday auctioned five plots in Vashi and Airoli for ₹229 crore, earning four times the base price. The results of the auction was declared on Friday.
While CIDCO officials expressed happiness over the deal, an office-bearer of the Maharashtra Chambers of Housing Industry (MCHI) said the outcome is likely to make CIDCO more greedy.
“This is a wrong move. Such a high price for the plots will make CIDCO greedy and the common man will have to pay for it. Though there is a slowdown, the winner has 16 months to arrange for the money. He will arrange for it and later make the buyers of flats pay for it in the name of loading and built-up area, while the carpet area will remain less,” said Manohar Shroff, vice president, MCHI-CREDAI, Navi Mumbai.
‘e-auctioning to blame’
Mr. Shroff blamed the newly launched e-auctioning for the outcome. “Earlier, it was sealed auctioning. The bidder would give the quote in a sealed envelope and he couldn’t change it later. With e-auctioning, the bidder keeps on increasing the amount and compares it with the other bids. This has led to the earning of an amount four times higher than the base price.”
Priya Ratambe, public relations officer, CIDCO, said she was surprised at the final result. She said, “In the history of CIDCO, this is highest rates that we have got for our plots. We are surprised as well as happy that despite the ongoing real estate downturn, we were able to sell these plots at such good rates. This has been made possible because of rapid infrastructure development projects like the Metros. The Navi Mumbai International Airport project will also tremendously improve connectivity in the region.”
In the e-auction on Thursday, CIDCO auctioned three plots in Airoli and two in Vashi. In Airoli, there was a 1,560 sq. m plot at Sector 7, a 1,797 sq. m plot at Sector 8 and a 1,970 sq. m at Sector 19. The plots fetched ₹2.67 lakh, ₹2.51 lakh and ₹1.29 lakh per sq m as against the base price of ₹66,917, ₹66,917 and ₹50,400 respectively. The three plots totally fetched CIDCO ₹41.77 crore, ₹45.26 crore and ₹25.54 crore respectively.
The two plots in Vashi were located at Sector 18. The 3,850 sq m and 3,846 sq m commercial plots were auctioned at ₹1.66 lakh and ₹1.36 lakh per sq m as against the base price of ₹1.13 lakh and ₹92,763 respectively. CIDCO earned a revenue of ₹64.24 crore and ₹52.30 crore respectively.
The Airoli plots at Sector 7 and 19 was bought by Shreenathji Organisers Pvt Ltd and the one at Sector 8 was bagged by Pacific Properties. In Vashi, the plots were won by Avenue Supermarts Ltd and Narayani Trexim Pvt Ltd respectively.
