PANJIM: The reality business in the state mirrors the problems the industry faces in the rest of the country. It is in a depression all over the country. Sales have dropped all over the country and that problem is acute in Goa. As flats lay empty all over the state there has been a slow down in the completion of existing projects. It may not be admitted by builders in the state but off the record many admit that it does not make sense to build and keep them empty for long periods of time. However there are other issues which they feel that needs to be tackled to help the industry move forward.
Desh Prabhudessai, President of the Goa chapter of CREDAI felt that there were a couple of issues the government had to tackle by way of implementing policy. The infrastructure tax was levied by the government in 2009. Builders had to pay Rs 100 per sqm for residential complexes and between Rs 200-300 per sqm for commercial which had to be paid at occupancy. This was changed later and then reduced. The government he said earned 70-80 crores after this tax was levied with the majority coming from builders. However he said the government had not constructed a sqm of infrastructure around any of the projects created by the builders.
The builders he said were making the necessary arrangements for water, electricity during construction and paying for it. The time he said was now ripe for the government to making good on its promise of providing infrastructure.
Today he said it made no sense when the builders were paying the tax and also paying water and electricity by paying out of their pocket which did not make sense.
The next issue that was bedeviling builders in the state was the attitude of people in certain parts of the state who would not provide permissions at the ground level even when permissions were given by the respective departments.
Desh said “If construction continues only in the cities then it will certainly become concrete jungles and the pressure on urban facilities will be unbearable. There has to be a balanced approach. Today any project is met with opposition in certain parts of the south. Yes, I agree with them when they say no mega projects but a bungalow is also opposed.”
Rationalisation was important since everyone was also concerned about maintaining the unique ecosystem prevalent in the state.
Finally he said there had to be a policy on raw materials. Sand mining was banned along with mining which had affected them greatly. No one he said wanted to break the law in search of much required raw materials like sand.
Another issue was latterite which was also difficult to procure. It resulted in the builders paying a fat sum of money which unnecessarily increased the cost of construction keeping the cost of flats high in the state.
With the industry struggling he said for over two years now it would be nice if the government could step in. He said the Deputy Cm had promised to study the problems and talk to them in a month’s time. Till then , everyone waits.
