Delhi: 40% of unsold flats gone in three months, DDA gets Rs 506 crore

NEW DELHI: In just over three months since registration began for flats under the first-come-first-serve housing scheme, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has managed to sell almost 40% of its unsold inventory – 2,236 out of 5,623 flats – in Phase 1.
While full payment has been received for 1,249 flats, the transaction is in process for the others. So far, DDA has generated a revenue of Rs 506 crore under the scheme. “Till Thursday afternoon, 10,806 people had registered. We expect the remaining registrations to materialise soon,” said an official from LG Secretariat. “Despite concerns that people wouldn’t buy EWS flats in Narela, we have managed to sell 809 EWS flats so far. Flats sold in other categories include 83 LIG and MIG in Narela; over 200 MIG in Dwarka, including 182 purchased by CBSE; 29 HIG in Jasola; 824 LIG in Rohini; and 42 LIG in Loknayak Puram,” added the official.

DDA officials said looking at the encouraging response, lieutenant governor V K Saxena set them a target
to sell at least 40% of the total unsold inventory – 13,782 flats – in the current fiscal. Depending on sales,
more flats would be added in the next phases.
Despite various offers and schemes, over 13,000 DDA flats had been lying unsold since 2011-12. Taking
note of this, the LG, also the DDA chairman, had directed tweaking of norms to make buying flats easier,
according to officials.
There’s a high housing demand in the city. If there’s a huge inventory of
unsold DDA flats, it only means that people either don’t trust the quality of
these flats or they are located in areas with a host of civic issues: poor
transport facility, shortage of water etc. DDA must raise its game on both
counts.

Despite various offers and schemes, over 13,000 DDA flats had been lying unsold since 2011-12. Taking
note of this, the LG, also the DDA chairman, had directed tweaking of norms to make buying flats easier,
according to officials.

“Buying a house is a lifetime event for an individual or a family, so it was decided that people who
wanted to buy any property may visit the site and pick the specific flat that they want, instead of waiting
for allotment through a lottery,” said an official.
Registrations for the housing scheme, which was launched on June 30, started on July 10. The scheme offered 1BHK flats in Narela, Siraspur, Rohini, Loknayak Puram; 2BHK flats in Narela and Dwarka; and 3BHK flats in Jasola.

Since the scheme included unsold flats, the LG directed not to revise their prices as per rates fixed in the current financial year and instead sell them at old rates

“Despite resistance from DDA, the booking amount was raised from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 for EWS,
from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 4 lakh for MIG and from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh for HIG. This was done to ensure
only serious buyers approached DDA and did not back out later. Allowing merging of adjoining flats was
another feature that attracted buyers,” said the official.
To make Narela more attractive and increase sales, DDA allocated land for a police station and a hospital,
apart from earmarking new DTC routes. It also cleared the way forward for Metro coverage, setting up of university campuses and court complexes.
“We will add more towers and flats in the existing scheme after the authority’s nod,” said the official.