Stress fund can help up to 14,000 flats in Ghaziabad: Realtors' body

Around 14,000 homebuyers in Ghaziabad can be handed completed flats if builders in the city get access to the "stress fund" announced by the Centre earlier this month, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) said here on Tuesday.

Approximately 30,000 units, which are in various stages of completion, are pending in the district adjoining Delhi, the Ghaziabad unit of realtors' apex body CREDAI said, adding that the average delay in projects here is two to three years.

"The Rs 25,000-crore stress fund announced by the government is going to help around 40 to 50 projects in Ghaziabad, meaning benefit to 12,000 to 14,000 buyers awaiting delivery of their homes," CREDAI Ghaziabad President Gaurav Gupta said.

"Our only request is that the modalities of this fund should be brought out soon so that the funds could be availed. A delay of six or 12 months in the modalities could mean several other projects which are not stressed but on the verge of it would be impacted," he said.

Noting that exact figures for delayed projects or projects which require the stress fund were not available for Ghaziabad, Gupta said CREDAI has already started compiling the data and it would be finalised very soon.

The body also reiterated its demand for amendment in the law, seeking consent of at least two-third homebuyers of any project for initiating insolvency proceedings against any promoter.

It said the Real Estate Regulation Authority (RERA) should be the first contact point for any buyer, instead of the National Company Law Tribunal(NCLT) or the Consumer Forum.

CREDAI Ghaziabad Secretary Vipul Giri said that all the authorities should adopt steps taken by the government to streamline the sector, and any delay in adoption of measures will affect the performance of the sector as a whole.

Amid a major slowdown in the real estate sector, the central government had on November 6 approved a Rs 25,000-crore stress fund to help complete over 1,600 stalled housing projects, including ones that have been declared NPAs or admitted for insolvency proceedings across the country.