Home buyers seek Rs 10,000-cr ‘stress fund’

New Delhi, June 24 (IANS) The Forum for People's Collective Efforts (FPCE) has asked Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to create a stress fund of at least Rs 10,000 crore to complete stalled real estate projects within a period of five years.

In a letter to the minister with Budget recommendations, the home buyers' association noted that despite the implementation of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act and setting up of Real Estate Regulatory Autorities, several stalled projects have not been completed.

"It is time now to end this problem by creating a 'stress fund' to the tune of at least Rs 10,000 crore to complete stuck real estate projects on pan Indian basis. The objective should be to complete all pending projects within 5 years by providing for such a stress fund continuously for the next five year," the letter said.

"This will clean-up the sector, infuse rapid development, restore faith in the sector, and with strict implementation of RERA, the chances of recurrence of delays will be minimal," said the letter.

The association also asked the government to constitute a task force under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to identify near-complete projects to be taken up for completion and also to identify a public sector enterprise to be assigned the job to complete the identified projects.

They also suggested that promoters of the projects completed through the stressed fund should be stripped of all their assets to realise the entire funding utilised for completion of those projects.

"They should also be barred from carrying on business for life time. To achieve this within reasonable time, extra power may be given to authorities for seizure and attachment so as to complete the entire exercise within 6 months," it said.