Ghaziabad: GDA clears key loans of ₹1,500 cr, raises ₹1,600 cr revenue

The Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) has fully settled its two major loans of ₹1,500 crore in financial year (FY) 2024-25, procured to construct Hindon elevated road and also for paying up hiked compensation to farmers of its Madhuban Bapudham housing scheme.

Officials said the authority during 2016-2020 procured a loan of ₹700 crore from the NCR planning board to construct the elevated road and procured another loan of ₹800 crore from a bank in 2018-19 to pay up hiked compensation to farmers (having land holdings of 281 acres) whose land was taken up for Madhuban Bapudham housing scheme.

The hiked amount was to be paid following the Supreme Court’s directions in November, 2016.

“As a result of these two major loans, the incoming revenue suffered a major dent in repayments and also paying up interest on loans. With sustained efforts, the authority has settled the ₹800 crore loan and also made provision of ₹300 crore in the form of a fixed deposit against the pending amount of ₹165 crore against the ₹700 crore loan. Not only the two loans were settled in 2024-25, the authority also generated income of ₹1,600 crore against the target of ₹1,294 crore,” said GDA media coordinator Rudhresh Shukla.

Officials said that during the repayment period and burden of the two major loans, the authority several times faced difficulties even to pay up salaries of staff and officers in time.

According to official records, the authority’s actual incoming revenue was about ₹549.65 crore in FY 2020-21 and expenditure was ₹561.41 crore — a financial crisis situation.

However, the revenue showed a marginal increase to ₹604.12 crore in FY 2021-22, and further to ₹652.26 in FY 2022-23. In FY 2023-24, the revenues increased to about ₹820.66 crore and recorded a high of ₹1,600 crore in FY 2024-25.

The sustained efforts in 2024-25 helped officials to generate more revenue and also to settle two major loans and also generated revenue of ₹1,600 crore in FY 2024-25.

Officials said that map sanctions of property/project layouts in 2024-25 generated an income of ₹450 crore for the authority and this was 40% more than the collections made on account of map approvals in 2023-24.

They added that an amount of ₹350 crore was received from the sale of unsold properties, which is also 40% higher than the amount received in 2023-24. Another amount of about ₹390 crore was earned on account of the compounding fee.

“With the financial condition improving, the GDA is now gearing up to execute infrastructure and housing projects. We have also received about ₹400 crore from the state government under the Chief Minster’s Urban Extension Scheme. These funds will be used for procuring land for the proposed Harnandipuram housing scheme near Delhi Meerut Road,” Shukla added.