India News | Allow Work on Sports City in Noida: UP Assembly's Public Accounts Committee

Noida, Aug 10 (PTI) A Public Accounts Committee of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly has directed the Noida Authority to allow work to resume on the Sports City project, where registries of thousands of homebuyers are stuck since 2021.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) issued the directives after it discussed the project's updates during a meeting with top officials of the Industrial and Infrastructure Development Department.

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The PAC noted that the Sports City project "is in the interest of the public, the state and for revenue generation", an official privy to the meeting told PTI, requesting anonymity.

The Sports City refers to development of small townships with top-notch facilities for sports, commercial and residences, for which properties were allotted to private developers by the local authority at four locations -- Sectors 79, 101, 150 and 152.

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The developers who got the land allotted were Three C, the Lotus Group, ATS Homes and Logix Infra Developer. However, the project was halted in 2021 after CAG found irregularities in it, even as two developers -- Three C and Logix -- went for insolvency proceedings.

"The PAC during the July 24 meeting directed the Noida Authority to allow developers of the projects to once again start work on the project if land is available. It also directed the authority to make sure the project is of international standard," the official said.

"The PAC said in sectors that have sufficient land as per the norms, the Noida Authority should remove the restriction and allow the developers to restart work, noting it is in the best interest of the public, the state and for revenue generation," the official added.

The Public Accounts Committee had previously held two meetings in June and July this year to discuss the Sports City, where approximately 15,000 home buyers, besides developers, have stakes.

The Noida Authority had stopped registries in the project in the wake of irregularities in land allocation as flagged by the CAG, and over pending dues worth over Rs 8,000 crore by the private builders.

The top assembly panel was informed during the meeting that Noida Authority CEO Lokesh M had been appointed in July and time was sought for him to get acquainted with the matter.

The Noida Authority, according to an official, has formed a three-member committee to investigate the matter and also hired a private consultancy firm to find out the reasons for the delays in the Sports City project.

"The three member committee and the private consultancy would make separate reports and present to the Noida Authority, which would put forth its report to the PAC in the next meeting which is expected next month," the official said.

Recently, a 14-member central committee headed by former Niti Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant also recommended several measures to the UP government to bring relief to homebuyers and boost real estate, he said.

"The Yogi Adityanath government is seriously taking up the issue of homebuyers. Under the chairmanship of Industrial Development Commissioner Manoj Kumar Singh, several decisions on stuck real estate projects, including the Sports City, have gathered pace," the official said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)