A number of projects in Noida and Greater Noida region have a delay in construction due to land disputes. Now, as a relief to developers, the Noida and Greater Noida authority have decided to forego the interest on the outstanding land dues of builders whose housing projects have been delayed due to ongoing land disputes. The move will help improve the Noida real estate market, where a number of projects have been delayed.
A three-minister committee comprising of industries minister Satish Mahana, minister for state for sugarcane and industry Suresh Rana, and urban development minister Suresh Khanna approved the waiver.
Developers have been requesting an interest waiver for the period when construction was disrupted due to ongoing land disputes between the government and farmers whose land was acquired for development and realty projects. Under the waiver, 10 big housing projects in Noida will get a relief from paying the interest. The developers had reported that they had been unable to get possession of the land on time due to ongoing cases. In Greater Noida, over 30 such projects have been facing a delay in construction due to the ongoing dispute between the farmers and the government.
A number of builders stated that they failed to finish their housing projects as per the scheduled deadline as farmers had challenged the land acquisition as well as filed pleas in the Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court. These cases have been going for more than 3-4 years with the construction being delayed considerably.
The developers were scheduled to pay 11%-14% interest on land dues. However, the builders argued that since their realty projects got affected due to the land dispute between the government and the farmers, the interest must be waived off. With the implementation of UP RERA, the builders were facing huge fines due to the delay in projects. The waiver of interest in the case of disputed lands will bring relief to the builders who are already overstretched.
