Builders owe Rs 656 crore to civic body

The data produced by the the civic body in the reply states that 21 redevelopment projects under 33 (7),that include redevelopment of single cessed building,and 23 projects under 33 (9) including cluster redevelopment of a group of buildings spread over at least 4,000 sq m,had failed to make complete payment.

In case of non-BMC property,the developer has to pay 40 per cent of the capital value of the saleable component on the basis of the ready reckoner to the BMC and 100 per cent in case of a municipal property. “Builders have to pay 10 per cent of this at the time of issuing the commencement certificate and the rest when the final occupation certificate is issued. In most cases,this 90 per cent is never paid. This is gross violation of laws and BMC is letting go a major chunk of the revenue,” Haider said.

He added,in case of the redevelopment project in BIT Chawls,Parel,which was passed by the improvements committee in 1996,the builder has paid only Rs 2.3 crore and is yet to pay Rs 20.9 crore. In January,the BMC had sent a show-cause notice to the builder.

Deputy municipal commissioner (improvements) Milind Sawant said show-cause notices have been sent to various defaulters,of which many cases are stuck in litigation. “We do send notices to defaulters and if the construction is going on,we get it stopped,” he said,adding that 37 projects under the same schemes have made complete payment of Rs 248 crore.