GURUGRAM: Developers of seven licensed
colonies to be taken over by
MCG will now have to pay up to 80% less than the estimates prepared earlier.
Acting on the directive of the urban local bodies department, the
municipal corporation has prepared fresh detailed project reports (
DPR) for the proposed takeover of the colonies — a move that is expected to resolve differences between developers and MCG, and speed up the transfer process.
Under the tweaked terms and conditions, now developers of licensed colonies will only have to pay for deficiencies in services that they were expected to provide as per the agreement signed at the time of issuance of licences. That means the developers would not have to pay the maintenance charges when MCG takes the responsibility of civic amenities in the licensed colonies.
Yashpal Yadav, commissioner MCG, admitted that the earlier DPRs were inflated and many ‘undue’ charges were included in the proposals. “The developers have already maintained the
residential societies for longer than five years. Therefore, they cannot be further charged for maintenance,” he told TOI.
In fact, the huge maintenance charges, which were included in the initial DPRs, had been the bone of contention between the corporation and the developers, who had contested the estimates prepared by MCG-appointed consultants. Finally, the urban local bodies department agreed to charge only for the deficiencies in services while the corporation would bear the maintenance costs. Subsequently, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar gave his consent to the minutes of the meeting held among government agencies concerned, including MCG and the department of town and country planning (DTCP), and the principal secretary of the urban local bodies department last month.
As per the revised DPRs, the cost for the proposed takeover of DLF 1 is Rs 14.12 crore (as against Rs 63.80 crore proposed earlier), DLF 2 is Rs 9.43 crore (earlier Rs 57.90 crore), DLF 3 is Rs 11.89 crore (Rs 56.92 crore), South City 1 is Rs 17.95 crore (Rs 41.25 crore), South City 2 is Rs 11.76 crore (Rs 58.41 crore), Sushant Lok 1 is Rs 43.61 crore (Rs 108.77 crore), and Sun City is Rs 4.25 crore (as against Rs 18.92 crore earlier). The revised DPR for Palam Vihar is yet to be prepared.
Yadav further said the revised DPRs would be sent to the department in Chandigarh for approval by Friday. “It will speed up the colony transfer process as all demands of the developers have been met,” he claimed.
A DTCP official said the licence agreements covered services like water supply, sewerage, storm water drainage, fire-fighting services and roads. “A licencee is only required to develop infrastructure, not maintain it,” he added. Thus, the developers won’t be required to pay for maintenance of these services. Responsibility of a few additional services has also been waived off in the revised proposals.