Yeida nod for Suraksha Group’s plan to take over stuck realty project of Jaypee Infratech

The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida), in its 78th board meeting on Wednesday, approved Mumbai-based Suraksha Group’s resolution plan to take over stuck realty projects of bankrupt Jaypee Infratech Limited (JIL), which failed to deliver around 32,000 units in its different housing projects in Noida and Greater Noida.

With the latest nod, the last and final hurdle in the way of Suraksha Group taking over the debt-ridden company has been removed, said officials in the know of the matter.

The Yamuna authority also accepted all five conditions that Suraksha Group put forward for the takeover.

They are: 1) Suraksha Group can purchase floor area ratio of up to 2.6 from the existing 1.5, which means that it can build more floors covering more ground; 2) concession period for toll collection on Yamuna Expressway be increased by an additional 15 years; 3) water bills on stuck realty projects be waived; 4) About 79 acres stuck in Noida’s Sultanpur village be given to the group, and 5) a new company form a special purpose vehicle, inviting new developers to join hands to develop stuck projects.On its part, the Yamuna authority had just one condition to make — that Suraksha Group pay the enhanced 64.7% land compensation to farmers before it takes over assets of Jaypee Infratech Limited, said officials.

“This decision related to Suraksha Group and Jaypee Infratech involves around 40,000 farmers and 32,000 homebuyers, whose lives have been affected by these projects. To benefit farmers and homebuyers, we have taken this decision and once the Uttar Pradesh government approves it, issues of affected farmers and buyers will be resolved,” said Arun Vir Singh, chief executive office, Yeida.

Yeida filed an appeal after Suraksha Group’s resolution plan to acquire Jaypee Infratech Limited was approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on March 7, 2023, as the plan did not require the realty firm to make payments to farmers.

Yeida, in its petition before the NCLT, said Suraksha Group must pay 1,689 crore in land compensation to farmers whose land was acquired for the construction of the 165km Yamuna Expressway, Formula One Buddh International Circuit, housing projects, and for other purposes if the group wants to take over the assets of Jaypee Infratech Limited.

“We will issue a statement once we get written orders from Yamuna authority on their decision taken in the board meeting,” said a spokesperson of Suraksha Group.

“We met with chief minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on Wednesday requesting his help in resolving our issues as we have been waiting for our flats since the past 13 years. With Yeida approving Suraksha Group’s plan, we hope that our homes will be delivered soon,” said Ashish Mohan Gupta, president of Jaypee Infratech Real Estate Allottees Welfare Association.In other decisions, the Yeida board approved a new scheme under which it will allot industrial plots and large sized institutional plots through an objective criteria, doing way with the old scheme of allotting the plots via e-auction.

Entrepreneurs and those who want to establish startups had opposed the e-action for allotment as it escalated the cost of a plot meant for industrial usage.

“Under the new objective criteria, the authority will finalise the applicant for the allotment on the basis of multiple points such as the potential tax a project will render to the state government, the corporate social responsibility fund corpus, impact a unit will have on local economy, whether the enterprise will have foreign direct investment, whether the applicant is a Fortune 500 company; and also its brand value, among others. Our motive is to fast-track the process,” said Singh.

Soon, Yeida will float plot schemes for data parks, mixed-land use and industrial purposes under the new policy, said officials.

Apart from these two major decisions, the authority has also approved the decision to come up with a new one time settlement scheme for realtors waiving penal interests on land cost dues. It has also approved a scheme under which it will waive penalty for realtors if the housing project got delayed due to land dispute between the authority and the farmers, or if basic services are not built on time, affecting the work at the site.

Also, the new Master Plan 2041 has been approved for development around the airport site in Jewar and 204 crore has been approved for the airport project, said officials.