NBCC floats tender for appointment of channel partner to sell around 5,000 unsold units

NBCC had in March this year put up for sale around 49 units as part of the offline draw whose results were announced on June 14. It had managed to sell 20 of the 49 residential units spread across Amrapali projects in Noida and Greater Noida worth Rs 20 crore, sources had told Moneycontrol.

It had received 95 applications for the 49 residential units. Demand for the six commercial units was subdued, they had said. The units had been completed by the state-run company NBCC tasked by the Supreme Court to complete unfinished projects of Amrapali Group.

The Supreme Court had in 2019 asked the government’s construction arm to finish and deliver 38,159 flats by 2023 after several homebuyers sought its intervention, complaining about years of delay in handing over their homes.

Meanwhile, some contractors involved in completing the Amrapali projects have said that they have not received payments from NBCC since February this year. An amount of around Rs 500 crore is pending from NBCC to these contractors.

When asked, Gupta said that this was on account of COVID-19 and payments would be regularised soon. “As far as delay in construction is concerned, we should be able to make up for the time lost,” he added.

The Supreme Court on October 13, 2020 had permitted the court receiver to incorporate a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to enable flow of funds from SBICap for completion of unfinished projects. It is for this reason that the company Amrapali Stalled Projects Investments Reconstruction Establishment (ASPIRE) has been floated. It consists of a court receiver, forensic auditor and chartered accountant. It is a not-for-profit company under Section 8 of Companies Act, 2013. ASPIRE had announced the sale of the units through an open draw on February 7, 2021.

Amrapali Group Projects have 46,575 apartments, of which 8,416 units are occupied. As many as 38,159 units are under execution by NBCC and these include 5,229 unsold apartments. Of the 38,159 units, close to 2,000 units have been completed by NBCC, which handed over two projects of 618 units in late 2019 (Eden Park in Noida and Castle in Greater Noida). Around 1400 have been completed in other projects.

NBCC is the project management consultant for the Amrapali projects and is responsible for the quality and timely completion of work. The total cost of completing all stuck projects by Amrapali Group is approximately Rs 8,500 crore. NBCC is executing these projects as PMC and would get 8 percent as fees. It is not using its funds, which are being facilitated by a receiver appointed by the Supreme Court.

The main source of funds is the pending dues — around Rs 3,870 crore —from the owners of the apartments that have been sold and Rs 3,000 crore, the worth of unsold residential units. The remaining amount will accrue from sold and unsold commercial units, sale of FAR, surrendered or attached flats and the sale of Amrapali Group’s attached properties.

SBI Cap is also funding Rs 650 crore for six projects to bridge the temporary liquidity gap.

More than 40,000 homebuyers invested in various Amrapali projects, most of which are in Noida and Greater Noida, more than eight years ago. NBCC has already completed and handed over two stalled projects.

On July 23, 2019, the top court cancelled the registration of the Amrapali Group under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, and ousted it from its prime properties in NCR by nixing land leases for breaching buyers’ trust.