The Central Business District (CBD), also known as the Lahore Central Business District Development Authority (LCBDDA), in an open auction, rolled out seven mixed-use commercial plots in Gulberg’s downtown.
On Saturday, the minister for information and broadcasting, Fawad Chaudhary, announced that the “Punjab Government has generated Rs. 36 billion by auctioning 7 plots in the Central Business District (CBD) project”. The plots presented in the auction are situated in Pakistan’s first planned downtown, “The Downtown Lahore”.
International and domestic investors participated in the bid, and according to the development authority, plots in Downtown-One were sold to Pothar Developer for Rs. 6.5 billion, followed by Downtown-two which were sold to Nova Group Rs. 5.1 billion, Downtown three to Onyx Developers for Rs. 4.0 billion, Downtown four and five to Kingdom for 7.8 billion, and downtown 6 and 7 to grand arc builder and ASC constructors for Rs. 5.2 and Rs. 6.1 billion respectively. The auction was held just weeks after the initial announcement by the development authority to auction lands.
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THE LCBDDA Chief Executive Office Imran Amin, overwhelmed by the response it (the authority) got from the auctions, said that “We have witnessed an overwhelming and far better response than Lahore Prime for Lahore Downtown, which reflects that we (the authority) is delivering what we have promised. Lahore Downtown will be a sign of inspiration and a class of new beginnings in the field of construction and real estate.”
He further added that “The Lahore Downtown is a stepping stone for our future generations to witness an economically stable welfare state. It’s a pledge of CBD Punjab to work immensely for the betterment of the country.”
I would like to congratulate the whole team of @CBDPunjab on successful auction of Lahore Downtown. Securing a staggering investment of nearly Rs 35 billion is a great contribution to economic growth of Pakistan. @ImranAminPK and the whole team of CBD Punjab have created history. pic.twitter.com/GWDYdbgBZs
— Hasaan Khawar (@hasaankhawar) March 11, 2022
The LCBDDA, earlier in September 2021, auctioned five commercial plots in Lahore Prime for Rs. 21.5 billion after it received the highest bid price from four groups. The September auction included Prime-1 measuring 18 kanals for Rs 7.623 billion, Prime-2 plot measuring 11 kanals for Rs4.202 billion, Prime-3 measuring 10 kanals for Rs2.840 billion, and Prime-4 and 5 for Rs 4.069 billion and Rs. 2.845 billion respectively.
Prior to this Capital development authority also rolled out land in auctions in 2019. residential plots of different sizes in the developed Sector G-10, F-10, F-11, and Sector D-12 of Islamabad were auctioned. In addition to this, commercial, apartment, and industrial plots were also auctioned.
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The development comes in a government effort to increase the supply of legal land with clear titles offered to the individual buyer and the builder. Properly notified, declared, and transparent land auctions held by the government would decrease the rollout of land in a clandestine and non-transparent manner, subsequently bringing down the inflated prices of land offered to the individual buyer and builder as the market becomes more accessible and attracts more investors.