NAREDCO urges government to lift ban on work at construction sites

Real estate has been under consistent stress since few years, market dynamics have changed rapidly, which has resulted in rising unsold inventories in the country. The COVID-19 (INTERLINK: ) or Coronavirus pandemic has paused the real estate sector, while disrupting the businesses across the nation. While RBI and the Finance Minister  have taken several measures to ease the load on consumers shoulder, real estate collective grapples with the impact of the pandemic.

As an appeal to provide a relief to developers across the country, NAREDCO seeks a $200 billion relief from the government to loosen the impact of COVID-19. In order to keep up with the economy, it is imperative to capture for the loss of job and relook at the loss of income.

In order to keep up with the world economy, NAREDCO has requested to suspend all NCLT activities for next six months considering the downfall of the economy of India. The idea is to provide a breathing space to companies who have faced huge losses due to rapidly decreasing stock prices, which has made high net worth companies prone to be taken over by foreign investors, the results of which can be devastating for India. Since real estate accounts for 6-7 per cent of India’s GDP and employs nearly 10-11 per cent of population, it urges the government to focus on the demand of the developers.

The lockdown has majorly impacted the construction sector . While some labourers are stationed at the construction site where developers are taking care of their needs, some laborers have already moved to their native place. Extension of lockdown on construction site may lead to an unprecedented challenge of re-acquiring labour, force which will further delay the construction and developers would have to bare significant loss as monsoons are approaching. To ease this difficult situation, NAREDCO has also suggested lifting the lockdown partially on construction site to continue the work while following all the guidelines given by the government to ensure safety of the people.

The body is actively working towards creating a safer environment for the people across the country by providing buildings for quarantine and assisting with beds in the hospitals.

In the presence of Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Housing & Urban Affairs, Government of India, NAREDCO also unveiled the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) guidelines to ensure the safety of the people in and around the construction site, if the lockdown is lifted from the construction site. He also said that the developers must hear out to the issues of construction workers; treat them like family during this difficult time.

Read more on the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and Guidelines for Construction Sites for COVID-19 Outbreak here. 

Commenting on the appeal, Rajeev Talwar, Chairman, NAREDCO, said, “During these unprecedented times, a unity among the people is visible to tackle COVID-19. We urge the government to provide us with a stimulus package to deal the current situation while we take care of our labour force to ensure that their health and safety is not compromised.”

Further,Dr Niranjan Hiranandani, National President, NAREDCO, added, “The country’s economy is under tremendous pressure owing to exponential losses across sectors. Real estate has been under consistent stress with rising unsold inventories, liquidity crunch and now with COVID-19. As a body, we urge the government to come up with an economic relief package keeping in mind the current status of the real estate.”

Commenting on the SOPs, Aarti Harbhajanka, Founder and Managing Director, Primus Partners, said, “COVID-19 is here to stay and it will take more than a few months to completely eradicate it from the country. As promoters, it is our responsibility to prevent the spread if and when the lockdown is lifted. These guidelines will help in ensuring the safety of everyone on the site, failing to do so may result in the lockdown of the entire project site, which in turn, will result in financial loss, followed by delay in completion. NAREDCO has taken a positive initiative using a far-sighted approach to ensure overall safety.”

“Considering the volatility of the share markets, people have realised that real estate is the real asset in these challenging times. The time is ripped now to address the issue and seek the right economic solutions to how will business operate effectively during lockdown, given the pandemic uncertainty. To ensure that social distancing is followed during and post lockdown in home buying, it is imperative to make home buying process online as much as possible. With the guidance of Ministry, NAREDCO is working on an e-commerce portal (Housingforall.com), we expect this portal to be the end-to-end solution in home buying experience with an aim to complete major exercise online and without compromising on the safety and security” said Rajan Bandelkar, Convenor, Housingforall.com and President, NAREDCO Maharashtra.