Amrapali buyers worry Greater Noida authority won’t finish 35,000 flats

A day after the Supreme Court said that it would hand over Amrapali Group’s stuck housing projects to the Greater Noida and the Noida authorities, the homebuyers on Thursday expressed concerns that the debt-ridden Greater Noida authority would be able to finish around 35,000 flats.

The Greater Noida authority is facing a fund crisis as it has a debt of around Rs 5,000 crore to repay (to various banks and government bodies) and struggles to recover around Rs 7,000 crore from 200 defaulter builders. Similarly, the Noida authority has to recover around Rs 11,000 crore from 100 builders.

“The cash-rich Noida authority can easily arrange funds to finish flats in Amrapali’s projects. But we worry how the Greater Noida authority will arrange funds. Therefore, we hope that the court will either ask NBCC or direct the UP government to come forward to help arrange funds to finish flats in Greater Noida,” said Abhishek Kumar, president of Noida Extension Flat Owners’ Welfare Association that had filed a plea in the SC in September, 2017, seeking protection of buyers’ interests.

The petition was filed after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on September 6, 2017, had accepted Bank of Baroda’s insolvency plea against Amrapali Silicon City — one of their 15 housing projects in Gautam Budh Nagar district — in Sector 76, Noida.

On Wednesday, the apex court had said, “We see that entire Amrapali Group has failed to discharge its duties towards home buyers, authorities (Noida and Greater Noida) and banks. You (Amrapali Group) have neither completed any projects nor invested any money in the projects. We think you are the one who should be thrown out of these properties. We will vest the rights of these properties with the Noida and Greater Noida.”

The SC will hear the case again on May 10. The homebuyers hope that the court will issue final orders and decide the fate of their flats.

“The debt-ridden Greater Noida authority has no funds for its routine projects. Then how will it arrange the funds for Amrapali projects if the SC finally hands over the projects? Also, it is not possible to sell unsold flats to raise funds given the market conditions. It means there is a need of around Rs 4,600 crore to finish flats,” a Greater Noida authority official said, requesting anonymity.

Out of 15 stuck housing projects, five are in Greater Noida. Amrapali Group’s projects in Noida — Sapphire, Princely Estate, Silicon City, Platinum and Zodiac are partially ready and around 12,000 buyers have moved into their respective flats.

“Noida projects have partial work to get finished and hardly require much funds. But the challenge is to finish flats in 10 projects in Greater Noida. We hope after the SC order, things will move and we will be able to get justice,” Hem Prakash, a buyer who owns a flat in Amrapali Dream Valley in Greater Noida, said.

According to the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC), which conducted a survey following the SC’S directive in 2018, Rs 8,550 crore is required to deliver the 15 housing projects of Amrapali.

JAYPEE INFRA ISSUE

Lenders of Jaypee Infratech Thursday sought clarifications from NBCC on various relief measures and concession proposed by the state-owned firm in its revised bid to acquire the debtridden realty company, sources said.

The creditors’ panel will meet again on May 14 to further discuss the revised bid of NBCC, they added.

The Committee of Creditors (COC) met Thursday to discuss NBCC’S revised offer after it rejected the bid of Mumbai-based Suraksha Realty on May 3 through a voting under the insolvency proceedings.

During the meeting, lenders and representatives of home buyers sought many clarifications from senior officials of NBCC. These queries were mainly related to relief measures and concession proposed by NBCC in its offer.

NBCC was also asked how it will fund the takeover of Jaypee Infratech, sources said.

It was decided in the meeting that lenders will send a written query to NBCC by Friday and the public sector firm would reply by May 13.

Lenders and homebuyers would meet again on May 14 to continue the discussion.