Indian Express 18.12.2009
GMADA to auction sites, raise loans to tide over shortage of funds
Short of funds, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) has decided to go in for desperate measures to finance infrastructure projects.
The authority has decided to hold another auction in January besides raising loans to meet the required expenditure for land acquisition and development projects that are in advanced stage of execution, GMADA Chief Administrator (CA) Vivek Partap Singh told Newsline.
Besides the 52 commercial and 15 residential sites left in the previous auction held in September, certain new sites will also be put under the hammer in the forthcoming auction.
In dire need of around Rs 5,000 crore to complete projects, GMADA has already applied for Rs 1,000 crore loan with the Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO), and talks are on with Punjab National Bank and other financial institutions to borrow another couple of thousand crores.
While HUDCO has consented to grant the loan, PNB and other banks have also expressed their interest in financing the GMADA.
Earlier, the GMADA Executive Committee had also approved to issue bonds of the authority to generate funds but the move was not considered suitable due to the recession.
GMADA has to acquire around 1,500 acres for various projects, including connectivity to international airport, road network, mixed land use and Mullanpur Urban Estate.
While Rs 2,250 crore are required for land acquisition, development projects are estimated to cost Rs 2,500 crore but GMADA hardly has a couple of hundred crores, said an official.
Though GMADA also offered land pooling scheme as an alternate to cash compensation, farmers have not shown much interest in the scheme under which a residential site of 968 square yards and a commercial site of 121 sq yards were offered against every acre of acquired land to the landowner
The ongoing work to develop approach roads to the upcoming international airport is a cause of major concern for GMADA as they have to be completed before the airport becomes operational next year.
Besides, a 6.5-km-long bypass from Sector 80 to National Highway-64, grid roads in Sectors 81 to 114 and Mullanpur Urban Estate are major development projects to be executed in the next year.
Though the Haryana government had, in December last, paid its share of Rs 230.41 crore to the Punjab government in the airport land acquisition cost (Punjab and Haryana have equal share of 24.5 per cent in the airport project with Airport Authority of India having 51 per cent equity), GMADA is yet to get the money from the Punjab government.
Among other liabilities, GMADA is yet to pay Rs 225 crore to the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA), Rs 160 crore to Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) and Rs 37.5 crore to Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA).
