Amrapali projects: NBCC has a month to check feasibility, quality of towers

A thorough quality check of the towers in the incomplete projects of embattled realtor Amrapali group would be done over the next one month by the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC), sources said.

They would see if the present towers with quality issues could be fixed by retrofitting or would new towers in place of the present ones need to be built. The move comes after NBCC on Thursday told the Supreme Court it was ready to undertake the projects. 

Sources said NBCC had formed a team of experts who would be visiting all the sites and check the quality of construction. “The homebuyers have highlighted that many of the towers are in dilapidated condition and need to be either reconstructed or need major work. We will see if retrofitting would be enough or it would require reconstruction. This assessment would also decide how much time we take to complete the projects,” said a senior official at NBCC.

The public sector construction company might be investing around Rs150 billion in the projects of Amrapali group and Jaypee group. The court, which has been working towards helping close to 50,000 home owners get relief, had also hauled up Amrapali group for playing “fraud” and “dirty games” and ordered attachment of all the bank accounts and movable properties of 40 firms of the real estate major.

The court had directed the Amrapali group, which was yet to hand over possession of flats to hassled homebuyers, to place before them the details of all of its bank accounts from 2008 and ordered freezing of bank accounts of all the directors of its 40 firms, besides attaching their personal properties.

The bench also wanted to know how NBCC had issued advertisements inviting co-developers for doing the work related to the Amrapali group without taking the apex court’s approval.

The court was earlier told that a high-level committee was formed by the Uttar Pradesh government under the chairmanship of the secretary of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to redress the issues of homebuyers and affected parties of incomplete or stalled housing projects at Noida, Greater Noida and the Yamuna Expressway.

Homeowners, meanwhile, are likely to meet NBCC officials next week to discuss the plans of the project, which it is going to formulate before it submits it to the court most likely in the first week September. 

“We will have a meeting with NBCC next week. As we know everything about the project, we would be able to guide them and show which all areas they need to work on. We just hope they finally take over the project and help us get our flats,” said flat owner who is part of the association of Amrapali homebuyers.