by THO
The Unitech board appointed by the Supreme Court has decided to resume construction work on stuck housing projects in Noida, igniting hope among the homebuyers who have been waiting for the delivery of their apartments for more than a decade.
The Unitech management on Thursday said that a groundbreaking (Bhoomi Poojan) ceremony will take place at the Unitech Golf and Country Club in Sectors 96, 97, and 98 on Sunday, paving way for the completion of these projects.
The move comes after the Noida authority approved the revised building maps in June – weeks after the Supreme Court ruled that the revised building maps should be approved without asking the board to pay the land cost dues.
Realty firm Unitech had planned a residential project in a large parcel of land called Unitech Golf and Country Club (UGCC) in 2006-07 under which three sets of residential developments were planned.
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Of these three, two were luxury group housing towers – Amber and Burgundy – and one was a bungalows project called Willows 1 and 2. The Noida authority, in accordance with the Supreme Court order, has so far approved revised maps only for housing towers, which are partially built, and not the revised maps for the plots.
The tower projects entail 818 apartments on 164 acres of area in Sectors 96, 97 and 98, located along the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, with 180 to remain vacant. At least 638 apartment buyers are waiting for delivery of their apartments in these two projects. The remaining 180 apartments will be sold in the future.
The authority, in June 2006, allotted 344 acres prime land to Unitech, and the lease deed in order to transfer the property title was executed in December in the same year.
A total of 5,586 homebuyers are waiting for possession in all three sites under UGCC. Unitech failed to complete the projects because it did not have adequate funds to pay the Noida authority land-cost dues of around ₹11,000 crore and was also unable to arrange funds to build the projects. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and other agencies are still probing the diversion of funds done by the promoters of Unitech, according to authority officials.
The back story
Unitech had launched projects at three different sites in Noida. The first, named UGCC, is spread across plots in sectors 96, 97 and 98 along the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway. The second, named Unihomes 3, is in Sector 113 and along the Faridabad-Noida-Ghaziabad Expressway with 1,621 homebuyers. The third, consisting of Exquisite, The Residences, Unihomes 1 and 2, Uniworld and Gardens, is in Sector 117, with 3,327 homebuyers.
The Unitech board said that a groundbreaking ceremony for the Sector 113 project is likely to take place in October this year.
In the revised map, Amber has seven towers with 422 apartments, Burgundy has seven towers with 395 apartments. The new map for Willows has 397 plots for bungalows, but this is pending with the authorities, Unitech said.
“We bought a flat in 2007 with the assurance of possession in 2012 in Unitech’s Amber project. But even after 13 years we have not got our apartment. Now after the SC order and the Unitech board in place, we hope that our apartments will be delivered in the next two years. We have suffered long enough and now it is time to get justice,” said Sanjeev Sood, president of the buyers’ association in Amber project of Unitech.
Following the Supreme Court order on April 26, 2024 the authority approved the revised maps on May 30, and released drawings on June 25, allowing construction to resume at the site. The Supreme Court order divided the total Unitech land into two parts – one where homebuyers were allotted flats and plots, and the other where projects were yet to be launched – and specified that the focus should first be on completing partially built apartment towers.
“After we got the revised maps approved from the Noida authority, we waited for the environmental clearances from the requisite authorities in the state and centre. We have decided to organize bhoomi poojan on Sunday to resume the construction at the site only after we got all requisite approvals including EC in place. We have already finalized the contractors who will be engaged in the construction. We will make sure the construction is completed even before the timelines mentioned in the contractual agreements,” said YS Malik, former IAS officer who is the chairman of the board constituted by the Supreme Court.
The board was appointed in 2020 to replace the promoters from their positions and take control of the company from them after they failed to deliver the projects.
Until earlier this year, the Noida authority had refused to approve the revised map layouts until the realtor cleared its dues amounting to nearly ₹11,000 crore, said officials in the know of the matter.
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“We have approved the layout of incomplete housing projects in Noida on the orders of the Supreme Court, paving the way for the construction at the site,” said Lokesh M, chief executive officer, Noida authority.
