Construction activity resumes, lack of raw materials pose hurdles

New Delhi, May 4 (IANS) Real estate players say that few more days and clarity would be required for smooth resumption of construction activities as allowed by the Centre. Further, as relaxations come into effect from Monday, availability of raw material is a major hurdle faced by the developers. Niranjan Hiranandani, President of National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) said that in some states, the administration has come up with directives as regards the chain of offices from which the permissions are to be received before resuming work and there are additional norms, regulations and terms and conditions under which work can restart post the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. "In states where these aspects are not clearly defined, there is a need to define the same as also timelines need to be defined, and whether no intimation of denial would translate into a 'deemed permission', these are issues on which states which have not done so, need to provide clarity," he said. Anuj Puri, Chairman, Anarock Property Consultants, said: "It is just the first day of further relaxations and as expected, there are bound to be few ambiguities and teething issues. The very fact that there is disparity in the list of areas falling under red, orange or green zones between the Central and state governments itself will lead to some confusion. It may still take a few days for all construction activities to resume business as usual, he added. Puri told IANS that developers would need smooth supply of raw materials such as steel, cement, sand, bricks among others for construction activity to resume at their usual pace. Amit Modi, Director, ABA Corp, said that without resumption of the whole supply chain, construction activity may come to a halt in some time. "For the time being, while we are going ahead within the construction activities in the interest of labour and the revival of the economic cycle, we hope that the supply chain also gets resurrected within the time frame of the next few weeks," he said. Further, migration of workers to their native places also is another obstacle for the resumption of the construction activities, several market players said. As per Anarock's estimates, there were over 4.4 crore labourers working in the construction sector before the lockdown of which out of which over 80 per cent or around 3.52 crore are migrant labourers. "Considering the situation over the last few weeks and presently wherein there has been a large exodus of migrants from urban areas, labour shortage could be an issue for the real estate sector in the near term or until Covid-19 is wiped out completely," Puri told IANS. He said that while many developers have already been taking extra care of their workforce by providing them either full salaries, food, medical help or sanitisation products, there is a need on the part of the respective state governments also to provide an extra comfortable environment for them to continue work and not return back to their native town. Hiranandani, who is also the President of ASSOCHAM, said that at sites where a significant number of labour are migrants, and many of those have migrated back to their villages, it will obviously, impact quantum of work that can be done. "On sites where local labour is supplemented by migrant labour, reverse migration will result in slowing down of work," he said. Vikas Bhasin, the CMD of Saya Homes, said: "Little doubt, the migration of stranded labourers to home towns will have a bearing." He also said that as some economic activities have already started even in red zones and the incentive to go back to home town has reduced considerably. As such, the impact will not be very substantial, Bhasin added.
--IANS rrb/sn/vd