NEW DELHI: Opposing a proposal for depositing an additional amount of Rs 200/sqft for their flats as suggested by the court-appointed receiver, Amrapali homebuyers on Friday told the Supreme Court that the amount needed to complete the construction could be raised from selling FAR (floor area ratio), unsold flats and the assets of the group and its promoters, and that additional burden should not be put on their shoulder.
Facing fund crunch in completing the construction of all housing projects of Amrapali Group, the receiver has decided to raise fund of around Rs 500 crore from homebuyers to meet the shortfall and asked them to deposit an additional amount of Rs 200/sqft of their flats as the cost of construction increased substantially since initial booking of the unit was made by homebuyers a decade ago.
As the apex court asked the homebuyers to file their objection to the proposal, they told the court that their bookings of the flats were escalation free as per the agreement and also that the additional amount would not be needed if funds were raised by selling the assets of the group and its promoters.
According to the initial estimate submitted by NBCC, Rs 8,106 crore would be needed for the completion of 46,575 flats.
“The mobilization of the said amount of Rs 8,106 crore doesn’t require any additional funding from the homebuyers as SBI Cap SWAMIH Fund is lending Rs 650 crore and the consortium of six banks has also committed to lend Rs 1,500 crore, thus totalling Rs 2,150 crore. The homebuyers have also already paid Rs 1,200 crore (approx.) out of the total of Rs 3,624.25 crore and of the remaining Rs 2,400 crore, at least another Rs 1,300 crore is likely to be deposited soon as per the ‘Construction and Payment Schedule’ circulated by the receiver. Moreover, an amount of Rs 745.37 crore has already been recovered inter alia from JP Morgan, Mahagun, Royal Golf, Odisha State Housing Board, New Raipur Development Authority, etc., and from sale of various other properties,” homebuyers’ lawyer ML Lahoty said in his response filed in the court.
