Contractor fears company ‘might not release money towards this project’

As the Delhi Development Authority’s announcement of a Rs 700-crore bailout for Emaar MGF makes the realty major a beneficiary of the first such government bailout, other facilitators of the Commonwealth Games Village project claim they are yet to receive payments due.

While it has been a week since the DDA released Rs 200 crore to Emaar as the first instalment of the bailout, Ahluwalia Contracts, the main contracting agency looking after the Games Village project, says it is yet to receive all pending dues from Emaar and fears the company “might not release the entire bailout money towards this project.”

Ahluwalia Contracts maintains that only one third of their total dues have been cleared since Emaar received the bailout money. “The company owes us over Rs 90 crore. We have, however, received a mere 30 per cent of the total amount. Although our officials are in constant touch with Emaar regarding the same, the real estate major has been dilly dallying over the issue,” an official at M/s Ahluwalia Contracts told Newsline.

Asked if the real estate company has come out with a definite mechanism to channelise the bailout money towards pending dues and the overall project, an Emaar MGF spokesperson said: “The Commonwealth Games Village is a project of national importance for Emaar MGF and our topmost priority is to deliver it on time.”

DDA officials told Newsline that the civic body had directed the chief engineer of the Games Village project to monitor its progress and that the remaining money would be released in accordance with the progress.

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