NBCC will invest Rs 67 crore in strengthening the buildings of six Amrapali projects after a structural audit raised concerns about the current state of the structures, people aware of the development said.
The projects where structural deficiency has been identified are Sapphire Phase 1, Sapphire Phase 2, Princely Estate, Zodiac, Platinum and Titanium.
“There is deterioration to the various parts of the building which requires major repairs, upgradation or replacement of the elements. It becomes necessary to prevent the structure from deterioration and undue wear and tear as well to recover it back to its original condition to the extent possible,” the audit report on one of the projects said.
An NBCC official said the audit was done for all the projects. Some of these buildings were constructed almost a decade back and were not maintained after that, he said.
“We have appointed Mumbai-based company Structural Specialities & Projects Pvt Ltd for the repair work and deficiency is found only on those towers that were constructed by the original builder,” the official said. Amrapali’s projects had been stuck amid a fund crunch and alleged financial mismanagement at the real estate firm.
NBCC took over the projects on a direction from the Supreme Court. NBCC had assured the Supreme Court good quality of construction for the stalled projects of the Amrapali Group and that independent experts would assess the safety and quality standards.
Homebuyers in these projects had sought the court’s intervention in ensuring quality control of the work undertaken by NBCC in the Amrapali projects. The NBCC is facing a fund shortage to complete the projects and is dependent on the receivables from existing customers.
It has also expedited the sale of unsold units of Amrapali to fund the construction of stuck projects.
Property consultant Anarock, which has been tasked to sell more than 5,000 units of Amrapali in Noida and Greater Noida, has raised Rs 1,259 crore by selling about 2,500 units so far.
“The NBCC project continues to be a compelling opportunity for buyers. The Noida Extension area typically has demand for larger units and not enough supply and, as a result, we are seeing high demand for the 3-BHK and higher configuration inventories,” said Anarock group vice chairman Santhosh Kumar. More than 46,000 housing units — about 41,000 of those have already been sold — in over 20 stalled projects are projected to be delivered by NBCC in tranches by June 2024.
NBCC is expected to raise over Rs 2,000 crore from the sale of unsold inventory and had kept the prices on the lower side to attract buyers. Anarock said it has to sell all the units in 30 months and the kind of response it is getting, the company is confident of meeting the target.
All transactions related to Amrapali projects will be monitored by a court receiver committee. NBCC has appointed construction partners in all the affected projects, and construction is under way at every site.