Although the Commonwealth Games ended more than five months ago, owners of around 400 apartments in the Games village have still not got possession of the flats they have already paid for.
“After paying 95 per cent of the flat cost, no one in the government or Emaar-MGF (the developer) is giving us any indication on the timing of the possession of the flats,” said a flat owner.
The owners of these flats say that according to the Project Development Agreement, which was signed between the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Emaar-MGF, the apartments were to be handed over by the DDA to Emaar-MGF within two months of the Games and subsequently to the owners. However, five months since the Games, there appears to be no sign of when they will be allotted their flats.
“Emaar-MGF has informed us that they can give possession only after getting handover from DDA. However, due to the financial disputes with DDA, we are not confident that the builder is doing its best to resolve its disputes and give us a timely possession,” said a flat owner.
When contacted, Emmar-MGF said in an email response, “The flats were to be handed over to Emaar-MGF by DDA within two months after the completion of the Games, however, despite several reminders to DDA we are still awaiting the handover from them.”
The spokesperson of the DDA, Neemo Dhar said: “The flats have not been handed over to Emaar-MGF because the completion certificate has not been prepared.” She further added that “there is no time-frame” by which the DDA would be able to complete these formalities.
Emaar-MGF, under a private-public partnership with DDA, had won the contract to develop 1,168 flats. The company had hoped to sell 70 per cent (778) of these and to use the cash from the sale to finance the construction. However, because of the global recession, Emaar was unable to sell all the flats and had to be bailed out by DDA. As part of the bailout, DDA purchased 333 of the flats for Rs 700 crore at the rate of Rs 11,000 per sq ft. Later, DDA seized Emaar’s entire bank guarantee amounting to Rs 183 crore as damages for its failure to complete the Commonwealth Games village project in time.
Meanwhile, the owners are caught in the crossfire because of the disputes between DDA and Emaar-MGF.
“Emaar-MGF says DDA has not returned the possession to them, which is the cause of the delay. I am paying an EMI of Rs 2.5 lakh and I don’t know when I will get possession of my apartment,” said Vikas Kapoor, who owns a flat in the Games village.
Another owner V Vasu said, “I sold an existing house to raise money for buying this flat, but now because of the delay I am forced to live in a rented apartment. The delay is also causing damage to the building, as there is no maintenance.”
