Builders urge govt to review construction ban

Real estate developers have urged the central government to consider RERA registered projects as a public interest project and allow the work to continue even in case of pollution level going up.A delegation of developers met Bhupender Yadav, Minister ofEnvironment, Forest and Climate Change and said construction and demolition activities have already been banned for 29 days this winter.“Practically construction activity once stopped, it takes more than 15 to 30 days to resume full-fledged operations hence in nutshell, it will not be wrong to mention that construction is banned for two and half months. As per estimate of experts, one week 'construction ban' impacts 'construction site' for more than a month leading huge loss to real estate companies, labourers, vendors, ancillary industries and government revenue,” said Manoj Gaur, President, CREDAI-NCR.Developers said that the first impact of this ban is directly on the labourers working on construction sites. The workers come to Delhi NCR from different states and when they experience unemployment due to frequent ban of construction in Delhi NCR then they go back to their respective states which apart from unemployment, delays the possession of flat to faultless home-buyers.“We have urged the minister to allow activities which doesn’t cause pollution. Also, frequent ban negatively impacts the sectors and government should declare in advance that during this part of the year, no construction will be allowed in NCR,” said Harsh V Bansal, Convenor, CII Delhi Sub-committee on Real Estate, Urban Development and Infrastructure. The industry body said that the vendors and ancillary industries which are selling construction materials such as steel, paint, plywood, cement cannot sell during ban and this leads to loss of GST for the government.Ban on construction activities due to pollution is not recognized by RERA, development authorities, town planning department as a result developers don't even get 'time extension' benefit against 'time-loss', delay in construction, delayed possession to home-buyers which even attracts 'delay penalty' at the time of possession.“Ad hoc blanket ban on all the construction activities has its own problem and impact. Not only does it delay the project, it also adds to the cost of construction,” said Mr. Lalit Aggarwal, co-founder and vice-chairman, Signature Global. “Given that, most projects have a completion deadline as per RERA compliance, even more for projects in affordable housing segment, where there is statutory timeline of four years to complete the project, such bans every year cumulatively delay the project significantly,” Aggarwal said.,CREDAI has said that since RERA registered projects involve interest of general public and strictly follow government guidelines to minimise pollution, RERA registered projects shall be considered as a public interest project.

Builders urge govt to review construction ban
Real estate developers have urged the central government to consider RERA registered projects as a public interest project and allow the work to continue even in case of pollution level going up.A delegation of developers met Bhupender Yadav, Minister ofEnvironment, Forest and Climate Change and said construction and demolition activities have already been banned for 29 days this winter.“Practically construction activity once stopped, it takes more than 15 to 30 days to resume full-fledged operations hence in nutshell, it will not be wrong to mention that construction is banned for two and half months. As per estimate of experts, one week 'construction ban' impacts 'construction site' for more than a month leading huge loss to real estate companies, labourers, vendors, ancillary industries and government revenue,” said Manoj Gaur, President, CREDAI-NCR.Developers said that the first impact of this ban is directly on the labourers working on construction sites. The workers come to Delhi NCR from different states and when they experience unemployment due to frequent ban of construction in Delhi NCR then they go back to their respective states which apart from unemployment, delays the possession of flat to faultless home-buyers.“We have urged the minister to allow activities which doesn’t cause pollution. Also, frequent ban negatively impacts the sectors and government should declare in advance that during this part of the year, no construction will be allowed in NCR,” said Harsh V Bansal, Convenor, CII Delhi Sub-committee on Real Estate, Urban Development and Infrastructure. The industry body said that the vendors and ancillary industries which are selling construction materials such as steel, paint, plywood, cement cannot sell during ban and this leads to loss of GST for the government.Ban on construction activities due to pollution is not recognized by RERA, development authorities, town planning department as a result developers don't even get 'time extension' benefit against 'time-loss', delay in construction, delayed possession to home-buyers which even attracts 'delay penalty' at the time of possession.“Ad hoc blanket ban on all the construction activities has its own problem and impact. Not only does it delay the project, it also adds to the cost of construction,” said Mr. Lalit Aggarwal, co-founder and vice-chairman, Signature Global. “Given that, most projects have a completion deadline as per RERA compliance, even more for projects in affordable housing segment, where there is statutory timeline of four years to complete the project, such bans every year cumulatively delay the project significantly,” Aggarwal said.,CREDAI has said that since RERA registered projects involve interest of general public and strictly follow government guidelines to minimise pollution, RERA registered projects shall be considered as a public interest project.