NOIDA: Construction of nine stalled projects at Jaypee Infratech Ltd’s Wish Town is likely to start soon.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)-appointed implementation and monitoring committee (IMC) wrote to JIL’s holding company Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL) earlier this week, seeking possession of towers at these nine projects immediately.
Altogether, the nine projects have 97 towers where construction has been suspended for almost a decade, affecting around 20,000 homebuyers.
IMC’s latest move comes a week after the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) ordered that the Suraksha Group, whose acquisition bid for JIL was approved by NCLT last year, can start construction at these nine projects.
JAL was the contractor appointed by JIL for these projects.
The committee handles day-to-day operations of JIL and will also continue to work on hiring contractors for construction at Wish Town till Suraksha takes the reins of JIL.
Suraksha Group’s managing director, former interim resolution professional (IRP), and homebuyers and lenders are part of IMC.
“To comply with the orders passed by NCLT and NCLAT, the IMC of Jaypee Infratech Limited (JIL) has been exploring steps to accelerate construction work during the pendency of appeals before NCLAT and the Supreme Court… IMC (has decided) to descope the work concerning the construction of 97 stalled towers of Jaypee Wish Town, Noida, which have been at a standstill for more than 8 to 10 years. Please note that in the interest of thousands of homebuyers, IMC has decided to award fresh contracts to other contractors for these towers, rather than on a bilateral basis to JAL,” the letter by IMC to JAL, dated March 11, said.
The committee also requested JAL to provide documents and information related to construction at the stalled towers. This includes construction and service drawings, details of equipment at project site, records of on-site and off-site tests along with soil investigation report.
IMC then urged JAL to extend “unconditional cooperation” and access to construction sites to the new contractors after they are hired.
The committee had raised objections about JAL continuing as contractor of the stalled projects, saying that the company charges the actual cost of construction plus a 15% margin to carry out work. The committee said this margin was far higher than the market standards and that quality of construction work was sub-standard.
When IMC was formed, JAL was carrying out construction at four Wish Town projects — Kosmos, Klassic, Kensington Boulevard & Kensington Park Apartments, and Heights.
But work was stalled at 15 towers at Kosmos and Kensington Boulevard. Work at seven other projects — Garden Isles, Krescent Homes, Kasa Isles, Orchard, Kube, Pebble Court, and Wishpoint – hasn’t begun in a decade.
A source said on Thursday that these nine projects are the ones where construction could begin, but it will only happen in phases as Suraksha hasn’t taken complete charge of JIL and cash flow is limited.
IMC wrote to JAL again on March 12, informing the company that it will directly engage another security agency for the 7 stalled projects at Wish Town from April 1.
Though Suraksha was allowed to take over JIL’s stalled projects last year in March, it will formally take charge after the litigations against its acquisition conclude.
