The Supreme Court-appointed Unitech board held a groundbreaking ceremony at the Unitech Golf and Country Club in Noida Sector 96 on Sunday for three projects that were delayed for more than 15 years because the firm ran out of funds and defaulted on its dues, people familiar with the matter said, adding that the ceremony was attended by 400 homebuyers.
The three projects are Amber, Burgundy and Willows respectively in Sectors 96, 97 and 98 along the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway. Unitech board chairman and managing director YS Malik said that Amber and Burgundy will be delivered to homebuyers after June 30, 2026 as the work has already resumed. โPlots in Willows will be delivered within six months,โ said Malik.
โWe will deliver the plots within the next six months if all goes according to plan and the development remains on track, unaffected by restrictions such as graded response action plan that comes during winters. We will develop a 5-metre-wide and 3.4-km-long walkway around the Unitech Golf Course and complete all works before offering possession. We aim to sell unsold plots in January 2025 to raise funds for construction to expedite delivery to homebuyers,โ said Malik.
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Amber and Burgundy are luxury group housing towers, while Willows is a bungalows project. The Noida authority, in accordance with the Supreme Court order, in June approved revised building maps for the housing towers, which are partially built. Building maps for Willows have also been approved.
The tower projects entail 818 apartments on 164 acres of area in Sectors 96, 97 and 98. At least 638 apartment buyers are waiting for delivery of their apartments in these two projects. The remaining 180 apartments will be sold in the future. Amber has seven towers with 422 apartments, Burgundy has seven towers with 395 apartments, and Willows has 397 plots for bungalows. A total of 5,586 homebuyers are waiting for possession in all three sites.
Unitech case: The back story
Unitech failed to complete the projects because it did not have adequate funds to pay the Noida authority land-cost dues of around โน11,000 crore and was also unable to arrange funds to build the projects. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and other agencies are still probing the diversion of funds done by the promoters of Unitech, according to authority officials.
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The Unitech board was appointed in 2020 to replace the promoters from their positions and take control of the company from them after they failed to deliver the projects. Following the Supreme Court order on April 26, 2024 the authority approved the revised maps on May 30, and released drawings on June 25, allowing construction to resume at the site.
Funds required to complete the projects
The Unitech chairman said that he needs โน60 crore to complete all basic developmental work before giving possession to plot owners, and โน5 crore to develop walkways around Golf Course. โWe need to receive โน70 crore from the plot buyers and โน65 crore needs to be spent to develop the plotted area. We may raise โน300- โน400 crore by plot sale to fuel the construction in other projects to deliver apartments to buyers,โ said Malik.
He added that there is a funds deficit in Amber and Burgundy but things are in control. โWe will urge the Supreme Court to direct banks to fund our projects along the lines of Amrapali in which it directed banks to fund the projects with an aim to ensure delivery to homebuyers,โ added Malik.
โThe formation of the board and the Supreme Court order paving way for the groundbreaking ceremony has given us hope after a long legal battle. We hope that the work remains on track and we pray nothing will crop up now to disrupt the positive work that is happening at the site. We pray that we will get our apartment that we had booked in 2011 with a promise of possession in 2012. I hope my son who is working now will play golf here and my daughter will also move in with us. The house is likely to be delivered within 24 months,โ said Anil Saxena, 64, who bought a 3,798 square feet apartment in one of the tower projects.
โIt was a long court battle and we are happy that finally we got justice. We want to thank the Supreme Court, the government and the board chairman who is working day and night to deliver the units to all homebuyers. We are so positive now because things are happening in a positive direction,โ said Sanjeev Sood, president of Amber buyers association.
