NOIDA: The final announcement on he bounds of the eco-sensitive zone around Okhla Bird Sanctuary by Union minister Prakash Javadekar is likely to put smiles back on the faces of Noida flatbuyers and builders alike. The legal impasse, which had crippled the real estate bazaar for two years, had even paralysed homebuyers from moving into ready flats.
The minister on Monday upheld he draft notification, earlier final zed by the Union ministry of environment, forests and climate change, hat the eco-sensitive zone around the sanctuary will be 100m on the three sides in Noida and 1.27km on the barrage side, towards Delhi.
The court's ban had affected construction in sectors 74, 75, 76, 122 and 137, among others. This includes 25 housing projects that cover almost all arge builders in NCR, like Amrapali, Jaypee, Logix, Gulshan Homes, An riksh, ATS, Paramount, Supertech, malls like DLF's Mall of India and the Unitech Gardens Galleria extension n Sector 18, and several commercial projects and office buildings.
According to builders, the ambiguity over the eco-sensitive zone cost the local economy over Rs 2,000 crore in the past two years. "All payments were stuck. Inventories piled up as buyers were afraid to touch any property in the area. If we can quan ify the loss, it would roughly add up to Rs 2,000 crore," said Amit Modi, the western UP vice-president of CREDAI and director of ABA Corp.
The real estate retail economy expects a major push. "This decision makes everyone a winner. The state government can expect up to Rs 2,000 crore in stamp duty. Noida Authority will get all pending dues from builders for lease deals of plots on which they have built. Builders will receive balancefinal payments from homebuyers. We expect the entire financial logjam to be lifted," said NCR CREDAI president Manoj Gaur.
"Immediate beneficiaries of today's announcement are 30,000 buyers who can move into ready flats.Another 50,000 flats will be ready by end-2015. Then there are the office and commercial buildings," added Amit Modi.
"It's a huge victory for flatbuyers who were stuck without being able to move in," said Noida Extension Flat Owners' Welfare Association cofounder Indrish Gupta.
Even environmental warriors sounded pleased. "We're happy to have succeeded in imposing an ecosensitive zone around the sanctuary.At the same time, we honour the concerns of homebuyers, for whom the 10-km radius was reduced. The preservation of the bird sanctuary is of paramount importance," said advocate Gaurav Bansal, who had moved NGT for the imposition of an ecozone around the sanctuary in 2013.