Real Estate
Noida: After more than 14 years, the three development authorities of Gautam Budh Nagar- Noida, Greater Noida, and Yamuna Expressway have resumed work on a unified policy on land allocations across various categories, be it industrial, group housing or commercial.
The plan was initiated in 2010, aiming to streamline eligibility criteria, lease terms, rent structures, and procedural formalities across the authorities. Last month, talks resumed on the unification of policies at a board meeting of Greater Noida Authority chaired by chief secretary Manoj Kumar Singh. A document – Unification of policies of Noida, G Noida & YEIDA was presented to him.
“If adopted, the proposal promises to create a standardised regulatory framework for industrial land allocations and facilitate a more consistent and transparent process for businesses and investors,” an official said.
The need for a unified approach was felt a decade and a half ago as the three authorities struggled to maintain clear and consistent policies for industrial land allotments. Over the years, the allotment criteria changed multiple times from that based on objectives to interviews and then e-tenders. Finally, they settled for objective-based criteria.
But this back and forth came at a cost industrial land allotments remained suspended for almost 10 months. Industries minister Nand Gopal Gupta (Nandi) raised objections on the authorities’ plan to adopt the objective criteria without a formal approval from the CM.
It was in 2010 that Greater Noida Authority hired Sarc & Associates- a chartered accountancy firm to draft a standardised approach involving land allotments.
This was after officials raised concerns that varied policies were causing inconsistencies and causing operational inefficiencies and confusion among businesses and investors. A formal contract was executed with Sarc in Oct 2010. The agency initiated work, but could not complete the project because of logistical reasons.
In Sept last year, Singh wrote to the authorities to renew the contract with Sarc for a uniform policy. Each Authority designated a nodal officer Soumya Srivastava (Greater Noida), Sanjay Kumar Khatri (Noida) and Kapil Singh (Yamuna Expressway).
Interestingly, Sarc agreed to resume work at the rate decided 14 years ago — Rs 36.5 lakh plus GST.
A meeting was convened in Dec last year among the nodal officers and finance controllers of all three authorities. The key agenda was to assess current policies, streamline procedures, and draft the new SOPs.
The Greater Noida Authority’s board approved a proposal to share the consultancy cost with its counterparts. A letter dated Feb 29 this year commissioned Sarc to carry out the task.
It included aligning the criteria for eligibility, lease terms, rent structures, and other procedural formalities to ensure a consistent regulatory framework for land allotments across the district.
The unified policy proposal is now awaiting approval from the boards of all three authorities.