Builders in Haryana won’t get extension to pay development fee

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar has turned down the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India’s (CREDAI) request for more time to pay pending external development charges (EDC) running into nearly Rs 23,000 crore.

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar has turned down the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India’s (CREDAI) request for more time to pay pending external development charges (EDC) running into nearly Rs 23,000 crore.

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar at the two-day seminar of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India in New Delhi on Thursday. (HT Photo)

Several developers in Gurgaon have not paid the state government the EDC for several years now. The government had already given them one-year extension, but cannot extend it any further as it needs money to finance infrastructure projects, the CM said on Thursday.

“A group of developers had approached me in February requesting for more time to pay the EDC. I gave them one entire year, which will end soon. We have mammoth plans for developing infrastructure and we need finances. We cannot afford to wait any longer,” the CM said.

According to the Haryana government’s records, developers have paid only one-third of the total EDC of nearly Rs 35,000 crore. Developers pay EDC to the government for laying infrastructure such as master roads, trunk sewerage and water pipelines and other community services.

CREDAI, on Thursday, had requested the CM for more time to pay the pending EDC citing sluggish real estate market, rising inventory and poor cash flow.

”In Noida, we get land from the government and pay the EDC in instalments. Due to the sluggish market, the UP government realised that developers are not in a financial position to pay the instalments and has agreed to re-scheduled the payment deadlines. Similarly, the Haryana government can also give us more time to pay the charges. We are ready to pay interest too,” Getamber Anand,CREDAI president, said.

But Khattar refused to budge and said there was no going back on the issue.

“The situation is not bad for all developers. There are many who are in sound financial position despite the sluggish market. They played safe and did not got stuck in the vicious circle of no-demand-no-cash, and are paying EDC on time,” he said.