The UT's only mega project that took off, Education City, is also facing a bleak future, though its reasons for that are quite different from those of other similar projects.In this case, the stringent conditions finalized by administration have kept most major institutes away.

UT adviser Pradip Mehra had convened a meeting about this on Monday, but the final decision is yet to be taken on scrapping the project. Sources in administration, however, confirmed that it was only a matter of time before UT came out with a formal announcement for that as the project had failed to generate response expected from private educational institutes.

Most applicants shortlisted by the education department for allocation of sites in Education City have backed out and only three have so far signed agreements with UT. The applicants, which were allotted land for the first and second phase of the project, had pointed out to the administration that All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) norms required that either the company should own the land on which educational set up was proposed or have the area's lease for 99 years.

They had also asked UT to talk to AICTE so they could get exemption from the rule or that administration should adequately increase their lease, as otherwise they would not be able to provide technical education.
Originally, the lease there was to be of just 33 years.

Ten companies had applied for the third phase of the project and shortlisting would be carried out shortly. For the first two phases, seven companies have been selected to set up world-class educational institutions and run high-end courses in Chandigarh. In the second phase, an institute of management and an another of design would be set up.

For the graduate and post graduate programme, sites of five to 10 acres have been leased out and institutions/universities, which are running successful graduate programmes in management, information sciences, financial services, media and multimedia are eligible. Organizations, which have tie ups with industry so that the latest programmes are offered in these fields can also apply.