Noida: Five months on, meetings between builders, buyers not yielding results, 75 projects stuck

The Noida authority chief executive officer Amit Mohan Prasad on Wednesday held a meeting with 14 builders who are developing 21 real estate projects.

The meeting, sources said, was an attempt by the Noida CEO to take a stock of all housing projects that were stuck.

Following instructions from Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, the Noida authority in April this year started holding tripartite meetings with builders and buyers with an aim to revive sick projects. In each meeting, the authority directed builders to submit delivery schedules.

However, nothing has moved so far and the fate of investment of homebuyers in 75 incomplete housing projects is still uncertain.

During the 2017 state assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had promised homebuyers that if voted to power it will follow up with developers to deliver on stuck housing projects.

“The Noida authority and the UP government have been holding meetings with the builders for last five months. However, these meetings haven’t yielded any results so far. It is a futile exercise. Until the officials and the builders have a will to resolve the issues faced by the buyers, nothing positive will come out,” said SK Nagrath, a retired army official and president of Jaypee Aman flat buyers association.

In a meeting on Wednesday, the builders lobby had suggested that if Noida authority allows execution of registry per flat, then a solution can come out.

For example if a builder needs to pay Rs 200 crore land dues to Noida Authority, then the builder lobby wants to pay dues per flat to the Noida authority. It also wants the authority to allow registry for that particular flat for which the builder has paid the dues.

However, the Noida authority has not agreed to this stating that it will not be able to recover its dues in full.

“On Wednesday, we checked the status of 21 projects and took reports in written. They have made some suggestions that can help in delivering flats. But we will need to discuss it,” said Atal Kumar Rai, additional chief executive officer of the Noida authority.

The crisis

The builders have failed to clear land dues citing dip in sales amid slowdown in realty sector. The Noida authority needs to recover around Rs 10,205 crore from 94 housing projects that are stuck midway.

“Around 40 builders are unable to get occupancy certificate and offer possession and execution of registry because of fund crisis. If the builders will not clear dues we cannot issue occupancy certificate,” said Rai.

No solution

The Noida authority has tried to convince banks to give loans on unsold flats to builders so that stuck housing projects can be revived.

“But the banks have clearly refused to mortgage unsold flats and give loans to builders as there are no takers for these flats. I don’t see any solution until the government takes over the builders’ property and auction assets to raise funds for sick housing projects. Builders cannot generate funds now as they have lost credibility,” said an official, requesting anonymity.