“Currently, we are developing 6-7 lakh sq ft in 18 months at one location or project at competitive costs of development (which includes construction of buildings with all the infrastructure – beginning with the road, boundary wall, STP, UGT, landscape and hardscape, as well as all electrical and plumbing works),” shares Amit Pal, Vice President-Operations, Mahindra Happinest. At its Happinest Avadi project in Chennai, the company has completed and handed over 4.35 lakh sq ft of the total 7.35 lakh sq ft in about 18 months. “If, in future, we are required to complete 1 million sq ft in 18 months, we are geared up for it,” he adds. “We have a 1-million-sq-ft project coming up in Kalyan, which we are aiming to complete in 24 months.”VBHC Value Homes currently has close to 0.5 million sq ft under construction across various projects. The cost of development per sq ft would clearly vary depending on the type of construction and location, says Rahul Sabharwal, CEO, VBHC Value Homes. While the time for development again is dependent on the construction, he adds, “Ideally, for a G+4 construction, we would take between 18 and 20 months for completion, while for a high-rise of 20+ floors it would be between 24 and 30 months. The component to look at to reduce time would be finishing activities, tiling and painting being the foremost.”NCC has 45 million sq ft of affordable housing projects under development under the EPC mode. “In the past year, we have constructed at the speed of almost 125 flats per day,” says PNVS Murthy, Vice-President (Tech), NCC. “With one set of aluminium formwork, we can complete one floor (on an average, two flats a day with one set of aluminium formwork).” Brick Eagle, a company that runs an incubator to support entrepreneurs (developers or service providers) operating in the affordable housing sector, currently has 500 acre under management, at various stages of development. When asked about the time and cost to build, Rajesh Krishnan, Founder & CEO, Brick Eagle, responds, “It is a function of the product specification. G+2 structures can be done quite quickly, at even Rs 1,000 a sq ft; G+22 would be about Rs 2,000 per sq ft.”- SERAPHINA D’SOUZA