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Group housing window opens in Gurugram

Naredco

Haryana CM announces EDS changes,

    other major steps at Naredco summit

A recent summit organised by Naredco in Gurugram turned out to be a grand success, both in terms of the presence of high-profile stakeholders of the real estate industry and major announcements made by Haryana Chief Minister. While HARERA members highlighted the progress made by the regulatory body in the state, top developers got an opportunity to put forward their viewpoints forcefully at the one-day meet. While official announcements made at the summit brought cheer to the developer community in the region, elaborations offered by RERA officials made them more positive about the Act.

Bringing cheer to the realty estate sector, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced opening of a window for group housing in Gurugram. It will remain open for 60 days.

Making a slew of announcements at the one-day summit ‘Rising Haryana: Affordable Housing & HARERA’ organised by Naredco on October 26, Khattar said the transit-oriented development (TOD) policy has also been extended further for 90 days.

“We have resolved issues between developers and consumers. Haryana is the only state that has two RERA authorities, out of which one is exclusively for Gurugram. We have regularized 628 big and small colonies. This has been done at nominal rates by levying a charge of only 5 per cent of the collector rate”, he added.

The Chief Minister said despite the Deen Dayal Jan Awas Yojana being in place, the Government was not able to give facilities to unauthorised colonies. Therefore, he said, it decided to come up with minimum EDC charges to encourage builders. “As many as 2,50,000-2,75,000 families do not have houses in Haryana, so we decided to help them through the scheme”, he said.

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Khattar also said that any policy that is coming in the way of development should be changed but it should not burden the exchequer. “We were facing problems in EDC and made necessary changes. Real estate stakeholders are of different kinds. But those working the affordable housing sector need more support”, he added.

Apart from touching upon these policy changes, the Chief Minister also announced the coming up of five new big cities near the KMP Expressway. “Each city will be planned in a minimum area of 5,000 hectare and will be connected to all expressways. This way, an area of 25,000 hectare is slated to be developed as an economic in the near future,” he said.

He also made another announcement of providing a fleet of 50 new cars to Gurugram police in the coming few days.

Praveen Jain, President of Naredco Haryana, thanked the Chief Minister for taking strong steps to help the state grow. He appreciated the policies of the Government for a better future of the state. Jain said, “For the first time we got policies that were beneficial to buyers as well as builders.” Till now, he said, housing was the prerogative of rich people. “The pace of infrastructure growth during the last five years in Gurugram has been exceptional”, concluded Jain.

Among others who spoke on the occasion were Haryana Cabinet Minister Rao Narbir Singh, MLA Umesh Aggarwal and Haryana Principal Secretary Anand Mohan Sharan.

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“Despite the slowdown, Gurugram has suffered the least due to the good policies of the Haryana Government”, said Aggarwal.  The last government, he said, “only gave licences. They minted money in the name of EDC and did not give boost to the infrastructure. But the BJP Government has invested in the infrastructure of Gurugram”.

Speaking on the occasion, Principal Secretary Sharan said in the last four years, the Department of Urban Local Bodies had taken a number of steps. “An amount of Rs 2,600 crore has been invested under the AMRIT scheme. Out of this, work for Rs 1,800 crore has already been started. As many as 628 colonies have been regularised and Rs 1,000 crore has been sanctioned in the first phase,” he said.

Sharan said the GIS mapping of several towns had started. House tax survey in a scientific manner has also begun. “Every house and every city is given a unique 14-digit number. Each house will have an exclusive number plate with a QR code,” he added.

Giving a presentation on affordable housing, Neeraj Bansal, KPMG Partner and Head, pointed out that almost 4 per cent houses sanctioned in the country have come from Haryana, attracting large players. “Global names such as KKR, Goldman Sachs are investing in Haryana. There is potential and real work happening in Haryana. Stiffer deadlines by the Government have helped a lot. Subsidies, tax exemptions have gone a long way”, said Bansal.

Urging builders to create conducive environment for the success of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, Samir Kumar, HARERA member, said there was zero transparency in the real estate field before the Act. “Greed on the part of buyers as well as builders has been the root cause of suffering on both sides”, he said, adding “Parliament had to think of a way out by coming up with this much-needed Act which has ensured complete transparency and timely completion.”

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The purpose of RERA, he said, was to balance the interests and protect the rights of key stakeholders – builders, buyers, and agents.

Talking about the timely deliveries under the Act, Kumar said, “We decide cases within a period of 60 days. Also, there is no embargo on us to give justice to the builder. The aim and object of the Act is also to safeguard the interest of the builders as well and give a boost to real estate.”

Throwing light on the Haryana Infrastructure Development Act, he added, as per Section 11 of this Act, the builder can also make a complaint against the buyer. This can even lead to forfeiture of the amount submitted by the buyer.

The main achievement of RERA, according to Kumar, has been that it has brought the buyer and builder on the same platform. “Thanks to the Act, the builder can’t take eternity to deliver a project”, he quipped. .

On the success of the online platform, the HARERA member said, “We operationalised the website on October 4 and it has already received applications for 243 project registrations.” Indicating the robustness of the system, he added that only one project has been rejected out of these till now.

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Speaking on the occasion, Dilbag Singh Sihag, ED, HARERA, said, “Our intention is to strengthen the real estate sector so that it plays a significant role in the economy and employment generation. I am of the view that more than 20 per cent employment in Gurugram is being generated by real estate sector.”

Referring to the various roadblocks faced by builders in completion of projects, Daljeet Singh, Chairman, AIPL, said, “While we welcome this move of RERA, we have issues like NGT slapping notices on us to stop construction. When this happens, we can’t remobilise construction site for at least 45 days. This means, as many as eight months’ delay in a project cycle of four-five years.”

Adding to the builders’ perspective, Mr Navin Raheja, Chairman, Raheja Group, said, “The intent and purpose of RERA should be clearly understood. It should not act as a super licencing authority and make registrations more difficult.”

Talking about the misconceptions surrounding the Act, HARERA member Samir Kumar added, “My feedback is that 250 projects that were to be registered have not applied till now due to one reason or the other. People have a misconception that people who initiated their projects before RERA came into being, don’t come under the ambit of RERA. This is not true. All these projects come under RERA.”

Talking about the issue of external development charges (EDC), another HARERA member Subhash Chandra Kush said, “The builder should not fear RERA. The EDC issue will be resolved soon. We are coming up with a liberal policy to reschedule the payment of EDC charges. This is going to be three working days from now on.”

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The session ended with the launch of a book ‘Real Estate: Regulation and Development Act 2016’. Among those who took part in the panel discussion following the launch were Sihag, Samir Kumar, Kush, Makrand Pandurang, DGTCP, Gaurav Jain, Vice-President, Naredco, Anil Saraf, Chairman, ASF, and RERA expert Venket Rao.

Manohar Lal Khattar, Chief Minister, Haryana: “We have resolved issues between developers and consumers. Haryana is the only state that has two RERA authorities, out of which one is exclusively for Gurugram.

Umesh Aggarwal, MLA: “The last government only gave licences. They minted money in the name of EDC and did not give boost to the infrastructure. But the BJP Government has invested in the infrastructure of Gurugram”.

Anand Mohan Sharan, Principal Secretary, Haryana: “GIS mapping of several towns had started. Every house and every city is given a unique 14-digit number. Each house will have an exclusive number plate with a QR code”.

Neeraj Bansal, KPMG Partner and Head: “Stiffer deadlines by the Government have helped a lot. Subsidies, tax exemptions have gone a long way”.

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Samir Kumar, Member, HARERA: “The main achievement of RERA has been that it has brought the buyer and builder on the same platform. Thanks to the Act, the builder can’t take eternity to deliver a project”.

Subhash Chandra Kush, Member, HARERA: “The builder should not fear RERA. The EDC issue will be resolved soon. We are coming up with a liberal policy to reschedule the payment of EDC charges.”

Dilbag Singh Sihag, ED, HARERA: “Our intention is to strengthen the real estate sector so that it plays a significant role in the economy and employment generation.”

Praveen Jain, President, Naredco: “For the first time we got policies that were beneficial to buyers as well as builders…The pace of infrastructure growth during the last five years in Gurugram has been exceptional”.

Daljeet Singh, Chairman, AIPL: “While we welcome this move of RERA, we have issues like NGT slapping notices on us to stop construction. When this happens, we can’t remobilise construction site for at least 45 days.”

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Navin Raheja, Chairman, Raheja Group: “The intent and purpose of RERA should be clearly understood. It should not act as a super licencing authority and make registrations more difficult.”

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