Navi Mumbai: The latest auction of plots in Navi Mumbai has drawn a surprisingly lukewarm response, considering the premium real estate prices in the city and the record numbers clocked in earlier times. On Tuesday, however, only 15 of the 47 plots offered by the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) received qualified bids. The poor response is especially surprising considering the number of mega-projects underway in Navi Mumbai, which usually drives up property prices.

Developers blame the high base rate fixed by CIDCO, which depends on the revenue earned from auctioning plots to finance its mega projects.

Under Scheme 40, CIDCO offered 47 residential, commercial, residential-plus-commercial, bungalow and service industry plots – 20 in Kharghar, 10 in Ghansoli and the rest in Airoli, Dronagiri, Kalamboli, Kopar Khairane, Nerul, New Panvel (East) and Panvel (East).

Only 15 plots received the requisite three bids for plots to be allotted. Ten other plots received one or two bids, and 22 plots did not get a single bid. The 22 plots were in New Panvel (East), Panvel (East), Airoli and Ghansoli.

Among the developers whose bids were accepted were Godrej Properties, Satyam Lifescapes, Viraj Bhoir of Amber Developers, Shree Swami Enterprises, Ambe Refreezeration, Hari Krishna Buildcon, Giriraj World, Max Home, Abhinandan Builders, Abhinandan Developers, Majestic Dreams, Subhash Hariprasad Agarwal and R K Infra.

On the disappointing response to the auction, Vasant Bhadra, president of the Builders Association of Navi Mumbai (BANM), said, “CIDCO is not in tune with ground realities, which has led to even CIDCO flats remaining unsold in recent times.” Ashok Chhajer, chairman and managing director of Arihant Superstructures, says the location of the plots did not justify the bid price, while Haresh Chheda, this was a wake-up call for CIDCO, which needs to reexamine its policy. “It can no longer act on its whims. Mega-projects like the airport are not new to people. Take the Atal Setu, for instance, where traffic is only one-third of what was expected.”

Bhupen Shah, chairman- trustee, BANM, said that CIDCO earlier fixed the base price of its plots at 4.5 times the reserve price. Now they are at par with plots in premium neighbourhoods, regardless of their location, he said. “How can the price of plots on Palm Beach Road, off Palm Beach and next to Palm Beach Road be the same, as is the case with Kharghar and Upper Kharghar, which is actually Taloja?”

Rejecting the poor response claim, CIDCO vice chairman and managing director Vijay Singhal said, “The fact is, we have got a very good response. Soon after we sold 18 plots in our previous scheme, 34 plots sold in just two months. This is very positive and in sync with the market appetite.” CIDCO has announced Scheme 41 in which it has offered 33 plots.

Refuting the base price claims, Singhal said, “It was based on a market rate analysis by Knight Frank, an independent third party, and not by CIDCO. We have received a ₹4 lakh/sqmt bid for a plot with a base price of ₹1.83 lakh/sqmt in Kharghar. How are the bids 21% to 118% higher than the base rate if they are considered high?”

Among the successful bidders was Godrej Properties, which bought three adjoining plots in Kharghar’s Sector 5A. This was a consolidated area of 26,477.87 for ₹7,16.58 crore – an average of ₹2,70,633 per sq mt. Gaurav Pandey, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Godrej Properties, said they plan to build a group housing project here. “We aim to build a residential community that creates long-term value for its residents.”