Members of the Andhra Pradesh chapter of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) on Tuesday appealed to the State government to postpone the revision of the market value of lands and sites proposed to be taken up from April to December.
Addressing a press conference, the CREDAI, AP president B. Raja Srinivas pointed to the prevailing slump in the real estate sector due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said the third wave of the pandemic dealt a blow to the segment which had already been facing serious hurdles on other counts as well.
“The government, as a regular practice, revises the market value of lands and sites in February. We appeal to the government to delay the process, as it may create a further negative impact among the general public,” he said, adding that the revision process could be taken up in December instead.
He pointed to the steep hike in the prices of construction material like steel, cement, electrical equipment, paints and plumbing material and said that the prices of some of these material rose by 40% to 50%. “This is bound to result in an increase in the cost of construction, which will ultimately be a burden on the end user,” he said.
He said the Central and the State governments should intervene to bring the prices down, as it was important for the survival of the construction industry.
When asked if the real estate scenario in the Amaravati region was likely to look up in view of the High Court directive to the State government to develop the capital region, the leaders said it was too early to expect people to respond, especially in the wake of some of the Ministers still talking in favour of the ‘decentralisation’ theory. “People are adopting a ‘wait and watch’ mode and it may take time for any tangible change to show,” they said.
The organisation’s State general secretary K.S.C. Bose and chairman S. Venkataramaiah were present at the press conference.