In a relief to builders, state reschedules EDC payment

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 27

Coming to the rescue of the recession-hit realty sector, the state government has rescheduled the payment of external development charges (EDC) and the state infrastructure development charges (SIDC) for builders. Now, the builders can start paying the EDC and SIDC through instalments for six months to one year after making the down payment of the total outstanding amount.

In his order issued on December 26, AK Singh, Principal Secretary (Town and Country Planning), said developers could make the down payment of 20 per cent and pay the balance amount in eight half-yearly instalments along with the interest. The first instalment will become due after a year of the deposit of 20 per cent.

Earlier, there was a slight ambiguity in the schedule for the payment of the EDC and SIDC. The earlier policy said the first instalment became due “after one year from the date of the issuance of the policy”, which lead to confusion among officials and builders about the exact schedule of payment of the instalments.

However, in case where the developer chooses to make only 10 per cent of the down payment of the total outstanding amount, the balance amount can be paid in four half-yearly instalments. In this case, the first instalment will be due six months from the payment of the 10 per cent down payment.