E-Paper
Water order to hit 100 projects
It’s not just the future realty projects that will take a hit in the wake of the high court order on groundwater extraction. More than 100 under-construction projects in the city will also be affected as developers fear that borewells being used at construction sites will be sealed.
It’s not just the future realty projects that will take a hit in the wake of the high court order on groundwater extraction. More than 100 under-construction projects in the city will also be affected as developers fear that borewells being used at construction sites will be sealed.
The Punjab and Haryana high court had on Monday ordered the state government not to allow construction activities unless builders give a written undertaking not to draw groundwater.
The state government is required to file its reply to the court on the usage of groundwater for construction purposes on July 31.
The developers feel there is a possibility that the court might ask the government to seal all the borewells currently being used at construction sites.
If this happens, under-construction projects in newly-developed sectors (from 58-111) under the Gurgaon-Manesar Urban Complex 2025 plans may get affected.
The Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) has not yet laid water supply lines, forcing the developers to extract groundwater using borewells. If they are sealed, construction activity could temporarily come to a halt and developers would have to source water from neighbouring towns, thus escalating the construction cost.
According to sources In the town planning department, licence applications from developers like DLF, Ansal, MGF, IREO, among others, will remain pending till the next court hearing.
The state government can suffer revenue loss to the tune of Rs 400 crore on account of licence fee and other charges such as external development charge (EDC), internal development charges (IDC), bank guarantee and conversion fee.
According to town planning sources (Chandigarh), there are 57 pending applications, which include proposals for expansion of various existing projects.
“Since the applications of licences are pending, our plan to expand our existing project in Sector 67 has also been impacted,” said NK Sehgal, consultant, Ansal group.
