Bengal Shapoorji secures Rs 200 crore loan, resumes construction work in Sukhobrishti project

Bengal Shapoorji which is building Asia's largest mass housing project in New Town area on Sunday said it is committed to the delivery of remaining apartments and has secured a Rs 200 crore loan to complete construction work. The company also claimed to have resumed the construction work with 600 workers that is expected to expedite the construction activity.
Bengal Shapoorji Housing Development Private Ltd is a Shapoorji Pallonji's real estate arm entrusted to build the project Sukhobrishti in over 50 acres of land that proposes to have 20,000 dwelling units at New Town.

There was a flurry of complaints about delays in delivery of apartments within stipulated time. The project is initiated by West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Company Ltd. (WBHIDCO).

Complaints started pouring over the delay against the company in the latter part of 2019. Some home buyers alleged fund siphoning from their project to another project Joyville at Howrah and termed the delivery delay as a mass housing crisis and accused the group of giving false promises. The delay was also flagged by consumers with banks for action.

"Bengal Shapoorji Housing Development (BSHDPL) is committed towards the delivery of remaining apartments at the Shukhobrishti project. We have already secured funding of Rs 200 crore from a leading bank to complete the construction work and will handover the remaining apartments phase-wise from early next year," a company spokesperson told PTI.

"Construction work has been delayed due to the spread of COVID-19 and the nationwide lockdown. When the lockdown was lifted there was a shortage of manpower to re-start the construction work at the site. However, construction work commenced and than 600 workers had been deployed. We plan to increase it to 1000. As a responsible corporate, we strongly condemn the allegations of fund diversion. We have already handed over around 10,000 apartments at the project," he said.

A top WBHIDCO official said, "There are court cases and so will not comment on this," when asked.

While seeking comments from the state Housing department did not evoke any response.

The Sukhobrishti project is facing trouble with delivery from Phase-6 and the company has already raised money for phase 9. However, the company has time for the later phases but those may get delayed in sequence as earlier schedules had been pushed, sources said.