Jaipur: Rajasthan Housing Board (RHB) is set to e-auction 24 units at the Pratap Nagar Coaching Hub, raising concerns among smaller coaching institutes that competitive bidding could push property prices beyond their reach and undermine the project’s objective of providing affordable, regulated space for education services. The move comes after Jaipur Development Authority’s action against coaching centres and efforts to relocate institutes from Gopalpura Bypass Road to the purpose-built hub. RHB officials said several smaller coaching centres have told the board that existing rates are unaffordable and sought a reconsideration of unit prices. The concern also extends to ancillary education businesses such as spoken English and general knowledge centres, which generally operate on thinner margins and may not be able to make large property investments. “Under such circumstances, the best possible way was to discuss, fix new rates and convince the owners to buy units at the Coaching Hub. But now with competitive bidding, the price of property may turn out to be rocket high for these owners,” a senior RHB official told TOI. According to officials, a recent meeting cleared the auction of 24 units in Tower 1. They said the decision was driven primarily by revenue considerations, with the board expecting that even the sale of 10 units through auction could generate more revenue than selling them at normal rates. “The focus is to generate revenue, not to follow the court order and relocate all coaching centres from Gopalpura Bypass Road to Pratap Nagar. However, even if all 24 units get sold, more than 100 units will still be left,” the official said. The e-auction for Tower 1 units is scheduled from Sept 23 to 25. The units range from 147.53 sqm to 745.59 sqm, with base prices between Rs 1.05 crore and Rs 5.74 crore. The auction has renewed questions over whether the project can meet its intended objective of affordable and regulated educational space.
