Greater Noida may waive 1,800 crore penal interest on stalled housing projects

The Greater Noida authority is likely to waive off at least ₹1,800 crore penal interest imposed on the stalled housing projects, using the provisions of the newly announced policy to address the woes of the realty sector, the authority’s officials suggested on Saturday.

As per the policy, the Greater Noida and the Noida authorities are holding meetings with the realtors, calculating their dues against each housing projects, offering waivers and then issue permission for apartment registry, mortgage and map approval and other things.

The Greater Noida authority’s group housing and the finance department had a meeting with the promoters of 52 out of the 96 stalled housing projects in its sector Knowledge Park IV office on Saturday. After a week the authority will have a meeting with rest of the developers who own other stalled housing projects.

Saumya Srivastava additional chief executive officer (Greater Noida authority) shared that they invited 52 realtors, who have their payment slips and other documents ready, to reach out to a final figure of the dues after deducting the waivers offered during two years of Covid-19, as the Uttar Pradesh government has waived off penal interest on stalled housing projects in a new policy.

The officer said each realtor was shown the dues’ figure before and after waivers were deducted. “And we also cross verified the dues to reach to a settlement.”

“Our 12 teams of finance department officials explained the realtors our calculation methodology. Now these realtors will sit with the chairman to process their applications,” added Srivastava.

As per the estimates of the Greater Noida authority, it will offer around ₹1,800 crore waivers in penal interest for these 52 realtors, who are likely to obtain permission for registry for around 40,000 apartments if they accept the terms and make 25 percent payment of the financial dues.

The Uttar Pradesh government’s December 19 announcement of a new policy intends to cater to the stalled housing projects, where the home-buyers either are unable to get the possession or failing to get the property title, as the realtors are unable to pay the financial dues, becoming eligible for the registry permission issued by the authority.