GREEN LIGHT FOR NOIDA EXTENSION

GREEN LIGHT FOR NOIDA EXTENSION:Around 50,000 homebuyers will heave a sigh of relief, as the uncertainty surrounding the fate of Noida Extension housing projects seems to be almost over.
The NCR Planning Board (NCRPB) on Thursday gave a conditional approval for Greater Noida Master Plan 2021, which will pave the way for development of a township on 2,500 hectare of land in Greater Noida. The area is known as Noida Extension owing to its proximity to central Noida.
The NCRPB has suggested certain changes to be incorporated in the master plan before it could be approved by the board’s technical committee. A source said that the entire process could be completed by April.
Kamal Nath, the Union urban development minister, who chaired the NCRPB meeting, said on Thursday that the state government would no longer need the planning board’s approval for the changes made in the Greater Noida Master Plan 2021, which is necessary for any work on the development projects in the area to resume.
Instead, the UP government and the Greater Noida authority would have to incorporate the suggestions made by the board, including the provision to increase the green belt and protecting the wetlands of Dadri. Once this is done, the authority has to submit the master plan to the technical committee of the board for the final approval.
The NCRPB meeting held in the national capital on Thursday was attended by UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s trusted aide and MoS (CM protocol) Abhishek Mishra. He told Times Property, “We want to work with the central government. Our government has come to power recently. We will soon consider the suggestions made by the board and we will get back to the technical committee.”
Mishra said the interest of investors would be protected. The Centre, too, has asked the state and the NCRPB to resolve the issue on a priority basis.
Mishra said that the government has set development as its priority and the interest of people who have invested their lifetime savings would be safeguarded. “People should have no fear of Noida losing its importance under the new regime,” he said.
NCRPB’s member secretary, Naini Jayseelan, also told Times Property that they would not take long to clear the plan once the state incorporates the suggested changes. “The Noida Extension issue can easily be sorted out,” she said.
Mishra, during the course of the meeting, also sent feelers that the state is serious about reviving the plan in which around 50,000 homebuyers have already invested. This is perhaps for the first time in the recent years that a UP minister participated in an NCRPB meeting.
This clearly suggested the active participation of the present state government in its developmental plan.
These developments have come as a huge relief to the Greater Noida authority officials.
“It is a positive and important step in resolving the Noida Extension tangle and we are hopeful that the whole matter will be resolved by April,” said Rama Raman, the chairman and CEO of Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA). In fact, Rama Raman played an important role in finding an amicable compensation formula for the land in the area, which was acceptable to a majority of the farmers there.
Sources said that the changes proposed by the board would also be incorporated in the sub-regional plan of UP. The master plan was presented
to NCRPB earlier this year
following an Allahabad high court order, which made it mandatory for the authority to get all changes made in the Master Plan 2021 which was approved by the board. The approval mainly pertains to change in land use of around 2,500 hectares in Greater Noida that the authority claims was approved by the state government.
Commenting on the development in the board meeting, Manoj Gaur, the managing director of Gaursons, said the decision will help developers in reducing the delay in giving delivery to buyers. He said builders would now expedite construction work and that the participation of a minister of the UP government in the board meeting was very heartening. This demonstrates their seriousness on the developmental work in the state, he said.
Anil Sharma, the chairman and managing director of Amrapali Group, welcomed the development at the board meeting and said that an amicable solution to the Noida Extension issue would instil confidence among investors. R K Arora, chairman and managing director of Supertech, said that the active participation of the state government in getting the approval from NCR planning board augurs well for the development of Noida and Greater Noida.
This would go a long way in instilling confidence among developers and buyers alike, he said. Gaursons, Amrapali and Supertech are the three largest builders in the proposed township.