CDA manages to auction a single plot on final day

ISLAMABAD: The whole day exercise on the third and final day resulted in auction of a single plot on Wednesday as the investors continued to show least interest in auctioning of commercial plots in the lucrative areas of the federal capital.

The auction committee accepted highest bid of little over Rs820 million for a petrol pump plot measuring 2222.22 square yards in Markaz D-12. The reserve price of the same plot started at around Rs750 million and was closed at over Rs820 million as the Capital Development Authority (CDA) claimed to have fetched Rs19.35 billion from auction of 17 plots out of 45 plots which were on offer. Member Finance and his team members in the auction committee made a last-ditch but futile attempt to invite attention of investors to leftover plots of first two days but offers did not reach the minimum benchmark above reserved price set by the authority.

The civic body accepted highest bids for a commercial plot measuring 4888.88 square yards in Blue Area (G-6/F-6) for Rs7.8 billion, 700 square yards plot for Rs1.7 billion and a petrol pump plot in sector in sector H-9 for Rs3.35 billion which are highlights three-day auction. The last auction of commercial and residential plots was held four months back when CDA auctioned 33 plots for over Rs40 billion. The management of CDA had decided to hold auction of commercial plots to generate money to spend on ongoing and new development project. Seeing response from investors, the authority would not be able go for next auction for the next six months. Acceptance of highest bids of plots are subject to approval by the CDA board which is likely to meet in the next few days. However, a statement issued by CDA’s media wing, the Chairman Captain (Retd) Noorul Amin Mengal has appreciated efforts of auction committee for successful, effective and transparent three-day auction.