Panel recommends ‘model package’ for Noida, Greater Noida stalled housing projects

According to sources, the committee has recommended a “model package” for stalled projects in Noida and Greater Noida and other states can also devise similar packages for stalled projects. The model includes the introduction of a “zero period” when work was disrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic and court orders, for which developers will be exempted from interest and penalty payments.

The package also includes a partial surrender policy that allows developers to surrender a part of the land.

The committee has also recommended a “subsidised interest rates or guarantee scheme” similar to the one for MSMEs, which is aimed at encouraging financial institutions to fund stalled projects.

The committee has also suggested that the government consider a “guarantee fund” similar to MSME for such finances, sources said.

The MoHUA has been asked to draft a scheme and send it to the Finance Ministry, sources said.

According to the sources, the committee has also suggested the creation of five additional fast-track benches at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) so that all pending Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) real estate cases can be disposed of on a “priority basis”.

The committee was set up on March 31, after the Central Advisory Council under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 recommended its formation in its meeting on April 12, 2022.

Apart from Kant, the committee includes the NOIDA CEO, the secretary of the Department of Financial Services of the Union Finance Ministry, the Corporate Affairs Secretary and the chairperson of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India, as well as officials from the Uttar Pradesh and Haryana state governments.

The panel was formed to “deliberate on the issues of legacy stalled projects and suggest ways to complete and handover these projects to the homebuyers, in a time-bound manner”, as per the notification.