Yeida hikes land allotment rates by 5%

GREATER NOIDA: The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida) on Monday decided to hike land allotment rates by 5% across all categories, including residential and commercial, for the financial year 2021-22, officials said

GREATER NOIDA: The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida) on Monday decided to hike land allotment rates by 5% across all categories, including residential and commercial, for the financial year 2021-22, officials said.

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The decision was taken at the Yeida’s 68th board meeting held at its office in Greater Noida. Last year, the authority had refrained from increasing the allotment rates in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the meeting, the authority approved the ₹4,100 crore annual budget for the current financial year. As per the budget proposals, Yeida will spend ₹1,290 crore (about 30% of total budget) on developmental work, ₹800 crore on land acquisition, ₹540 crore on various works related to Jewar airport project, ₹300 crore on multi-modal connectivity, ₹1,000 crore on repaying debt and remaining on administrative purposes.

Yeida had approved the ₹3,891 crore for the last financial year.

The authority increased the land allotment rates citing the 4.5% inflation rate. “The inflation rate is 4.5%, so the board decided to approve a 5% increase in land allotment rates. The increase is nominal in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. The hike in rates will be applicable to all kinds of properties, including residential, industrial, institutional and group housing,” said Arvind Kumar, chairman, Yeida.

Currently, Yeida has a land allotment rate of ₹16,870 per square metres (sqm) for residential plots, ₹44,000 per sqm for commercial plots, ₹17,200 per sqm for group housing, ₹7,870 per sqm for industrial plots and ₹8,020 per sqm for IT-enabled service plots.

“Now, the new allotment rates will be 5% more of the existing rates,” said Kumar.

According to the officials, Yeida will spend a major chunk of its funds on developmental projects, including road construction, laying of sewage network, and drains. It will get about ₹2,870 crore revenue in 2021-22 by selling plots and collecting property dues from old allottees.

“Due to the Noida International Airport project and the Eastern Peripheral Expressway connectivity, the demand for all kinds of land has increased manifold. As a result, we expect to collect ₹2,318 crore by selling plots in the current financial year and ₹553 crore revenue will be collected in lease rent, repayment and transfer charges from old allottees,” said Arun Vir Singh, chief executive officer, Yeida.

The authority has also relaxed the conditions for the developers, who have defaulted on payment of the group housing land.

“As per the new rules, a defaulter now can pay 10%, unlike 15% earlier, of total land dues to become eligible for getting more time to pay the defaulted money against the group housing land. The builders will get the opportunity to pay their remaining amount in instalments,” said the Yeida chairman.

The authority has also provided much-needed relief to around 850 industrial plot allottees of a 2013-14 scheme.

“Due to litigation over the land, the authority could not provide possession to these allottees on time. Therefore, we have declared zero period of two years in which they do not need to pay any interest that is levied on plot’s cost dues. Now, these allottees do not need to pay any interest from 2018 to 2020,” said Singh, the Yeida CEO.

Singh said that the UP government will take a final decision as to which model is suitable to develop the Film City project. “The board has approved a proposal to allow further study on Film City project’s economic viability. We want the best model to develop it so that it earns revenue,” he said.

The authority has also decided to conduct a study on a probable mode of commute to connect proposed Film City in Sector 21 with upcoming Logistic Hub in Tappal of Aligarh along the Yamuna Expressway. “We want to conduct a study to figure out as to what mode of commute will be the best to connect these two projects. The study will be completed in the next six months,” said Singh.