Delhi Development Authority has unsold housing inventory of ₹18000 crore: Centre

Delhi Development Authority has unsold housing inventory of ₹18000 crore: Centre

“Delhi Development Authority has a cash deficit of ₹ 9,615 crore as on 31.03.2022 which has been financed through borrowings from Nazul Account. The deficit started from the Financial Year 2016-17 and it is mainly due to unsold housing inventory worth ₹ 18,000 crore approximately,” Kishore said in a written response to a question by Aam Aadmi Party member Narain Dass Gupta.

The housing stock is lying unsold since 2014 as the small flats located mainly in Narela in north Delhi are deemed to be too costly and lack Metro connectivity, he said.

The DDA has taken various measures to sell these flats, Kishore said. “In order to improve saleability of these flats, DDA has undertaken various remedial measures including improvement of transport infrastructure, construction of Urban Extension Road –II (UER-II), permitting amalgamation of flats, allotment on first come first serve basis and some concession to the purchasers,” he said.

Last month, Delhi lieutenant governor VK Saxena sought suggestions from the public to make the DDA “viable”, arguing that the landowning agency has liabilities of over ₹10,000 crore due to “mismanagement”.

“While DDA are owners of one of costliest & largest chunk of real estate in the world, mismanagement has led to its liabilities exceeding ₹10k Cr. Let’s resolve to make DDA viable. Your suggestions & participation will make it happen. #ForABetterDelhi,” Saxena tweeted last month.

Saxena, who is also chairman of the DDA, shared data in his tweet, showing that the developer has accumulated loan liabilities of ₹8,915 crore in the past five years between 2016-17 and 2021-22. It had a cash deficit of ₹3,209.14 crore, the tweet said.

The DDA put on sale 56,932 flats since 2014, Kishore has said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha in December last year.

“About 15,500 flats have been returned/surrendered and have remained unsold so far,” he had said. “79% of total surrendered (returned) flats are located in newly developed Narela sub-city.”