New Delhi, Nov 22 (IANS): State-run construction major NBCC (India) has dues of around Rs 1,668 crore towards its vendors, according to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.

The disclosure comes at a time when the company is a top contender to takeover and complete major stalled projects, including Jaypee Infratech, and has the mandate to complete the stalled projects of Amrapali.

In reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri quoted data provided by NBCC and mentioned that the amount of Rs 1,668 crore excludes the amount over which arbitration is underway.

The Minister of State for Housing Ministry said that pendency is largely because of delay in receipt of funds by NBCC from its clients.

"This pendency is mainly attributable to the delay in receipt of funds from clients because of various reasons such as pending approval for deviations, extra items, substitute items, escalation and extension of time from clients, non-submission of documents as per terms and conditions of contract by the contractors etc.," Puri said.

Data on the NBCC site showed that major clients of the Navratna company include ministries of the central government, state government along with government agencies.

As per the data, NBCC owes Rs 1751.79 crore to its vendors out of which Rs 83 crore is under arbitration. Few of the cases of major dues include an amount of Rs 50.96 crore that it has to pay to a contractor for the construction work of the Institute of Archaeology and UNESCO Category-II Centre at Greater Noida.

The PSU also owes dues to several contractors involved in the construction of the Indo-Pak border fencing in the Rann of Kutch, Gujarat. The highest NBCC owes to a contractor in the project is Rs 32. 43 crore.