Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) on June 22 launched a vertical dedicated to stalled projects or those projects whose registration had lapsed in the state, said Ajoy Mehta, its chairman.
Mehta said the vertical has been made operational and that a separate team will be looking after the stalled projects.
He was speaking at a panel discussion on stalled projects, organised by Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI) and Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI).
Sharing numbers, Mehta said that MahaRERA has registered 36,000 projects in the last five years worth Rs 8.69 lakh crore. Of these, around 10 percent or 4,500 project registrations have lapsed, whose worth is around Rs 78,000 crore.
He said that under Section 8 of RERA Act, upon revocation and lapse of the project, the regulatory authority shall take control and devise a plan to ensure the completion of the project and have the discretion of the Authority to continue promoting by imposing certain conditions. (It is the discretion of the Authority to continue promoting such projects by imposing certain conditions).
Mehta said, "We have verticals for grievances, complaints, registration, adjudication, and administration. Similarly, this vertical will be for stalled projects. If we have to look essentially at stalled projects, the situation is such that out of 4,500 stalled projects, 1,500 do not have bookings. In terms of apartments, out of the three lakh apartments that are stuck, 1.28 lakh do not have bookings. My focus is on stalled projects where there is money from home buyers involved. We will tackle money from banks and financial institutions at a later stage."
What is the role of stalled projects vertical in MahaRERA?
Sanjay Deshmukh, a retired IAS officer who has been appointed in MahaRERA as a consultant for looking after stalled projects, told Moneycontrol, "My role is to have a team now and facilitate the stalled or lapsed projects. I will have a team who will look after research and bring out ways to ensure that the number goes down. At a later stage, the team will also go on the ground for these 4,500 lapsed projects of which around 60 percent are from Mumbai Metropolitan Region."
Expectation of developers
In a statement, MCHI-CREDAI said, as of June 1, 2022, out of the 35,488 projects in the country, 9,304 have been completed and more than 26,000 remain pending which include regular or stalled projects. One of the main reasons for this hold-up has been the unplanned credit backup, issues in the approval mechanism, and the substantial cost escalations in raw material prices which have impacted the margins.
To revive stalled projects in MMR, there has been a unanimous call for industry stakeholders to come together and collaborate collectively and overcome the existing challenges, Boman Irani, President, CREDAI-MCHI, said at the panel discussion on stalled projects.
Irani added, "More than 20 percent of stalled projects in the country belong to MMR and it is important to complete these to maintain a steady cash inflow. When it comes to stuck projects we have to ensure that all parties are ready to take a hit. Given the current challenges, it is imperative for all stakeholders to mutually agree to take a hit in the interest of conducting business and if required, to collaborate through joint ventures and other methods for obtaining a common objective. We also propose the state government provide interim credit support and a special waiver of interest for delay by the allottee."
Meanwhile, Vijay Satbir Singh, a retired IAS officer and a member of MahaRERA said that the Authority will continue to support the plan CREDAI-MCHI charts given their continuous efforts to help consumers and drive positive sentiment among them. "We can give exclusive charge to a member of the authority which can help in the recovery of diverted funds from promoters and help in reviving these stalled projects,” Singh said.
