Excerpts…
What are the major areas CREDAI Chennai is presently working with the government?
One of the important areas we are working closely with the authorities is streamlining planning approval process. The authorities also understand our problems and working ways to speed up the approvals. Now the planning approval process has been split into two sections – Site approval and Plan approval- to reduce the overall time taken to complete a project. In the earlier case, we have to make an entire plan and then approach CMDA for approvals. Now, the moment we buy a land we can go for site approval first and keep the site ready for construction. When architects finish the sketches, builders can seek plan approval. This saves time. The government is now aggressively working on introducing computerized plan submission process, which will be introduced in a month. If that is in place, we can upload the drawings online directly through CMDA website and get the approval quickly. We are also working with the government to increase the FSI part for LIG and MIG projects. CREDAI wants to make housing affordable for buyers.
CREDAI has been advocating for transparency. But when it comes to giving guarantee in writing for the buildings against structural and material defects, builders generally get cold feet. Do you think giving guarantee to buildings is a viable option?
Asfor as CREDAI members, we always encourage them to include a clause called ‘defect liability’ which gives guarantee up to six months to one year against structural and material defects. All our members have to include this clause in the agreement itself. Apart from this, our members do give commitment in delivery date as well. We, as a developer, have to deliver the home in time to safeguard the interest of customers. But builders face constraints like labour issue, erratic material price movement and statutory norms, which put hurdle on timely delivery. But to protect the consumer, we give commitment in writing on the approximate date of delivery. If we don’t deliver on time, we will pay compensation.
According to reports, in Tamil Nadu, the number of registration has come down drastically since April after the increase of guideline value. Do you think this will further dampen the growth of the realty sector in the state?
For any price rise, there will always be initial resistance, whether it is property price rise or guideline value rise. Anticipating this increase, thousands of registrations were already happened before April itself. When one sees the registration happened between January to March, it was much more than the figure of corresponding period last year. So, the registration, which should have been happened after April, had happened before itself. Suddenly there is exponential increase in registration since April, which has its bearings on buyers. So buyers also delay the purchase, which also becomes the reason for low registration. The other reason, of course, the sales have come down in the first quarter of this year till June due to economic condition. Though compared to other cities, we are better off, but macro-economic factors have its impact on the market as a whole. But I am sure, in the next quarter, the sales will pick up.
“Affordability” drives people to peripheral areas, which lack basic infrastructure like water, drainage, streetlight, roads etc. Most of your members have their projects in fringe areas of the city. How CREDAI can help?
I think the government has to step in hereand provide adequate infrastructure. Because, as developers, we pay charges to the government to improve infrastructure. We pay around Rs 30,000 per sq ft as infrastructure development charges. The government should invest heavily on infrastructure projects in fringe areas of the city. Good infrastructure would open up more growth opportunities in Chennai. Because of the bottlenecks in infrastructure, things are not moving. Government should give priority in providing water, road and sewerage in the peripheral areas of Chennai which has good connectivity with the central business district. Roads are bad in several areas and lots of civic works need extra attention. CREDAI will be giving a representation to the government shortly to take up these issues on priority basis.
As more and more high-rise apartments and villas are being launched in Chennai, What is your view on making buildings sustainable?
Making buildings sustainable is an important aspect for protecting natural resources. In fact, we encourage our members to make their projects self-sustainable and eco-friendly. Some of our members even launched solid waste management plan. There is no point in blaming the local bodies for not disposing solid wastes. Now-a-days, we have seen great deal of awareness about ‘sustainability’ among customers. Many builders go for green-rated projects due to public demand. In fact, we are doing Chennai’s first platinum-rated villa project packed with good features. It is not a marketing gimmick, but for giving a good quality of life to residents. Though initial cost of these buildings would be slightly more, the quality of life in these buildings is better than the conventional ones.
As told to KR Iyer
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