NCR poses potential despite challenges
Prashant Solomon, Managing Director, Chintels India Ltd, Hon. Treasurer, CREDAI NCR & Convenor CREDAI National (Media and PR Committee) expressed his views on National capital Region (NCR) development, new policies & regulations and his company’s growth strategy.
The real-estate is the most sensitive of sectors to any new policies announced by the government for industries or individuals. Goods & Services Tax (GST) has given the much needed thrust and benefit to the manufacturing segment though some clarities are still needed in terms of real-estate. Additionally, reduction in home loan interest rates will give a boost to end-user home buying thereby propelling the realty markets across India.
Affordable housing getting infrastructure status has been the most positive development which may pull the real-estate sector out of its worst slump. It will also give developers easier access to institutional funding, leading to consolidation in the sector. There should also be provision for allocated affordable real-estate zones with tax rebates for builders investing in such projects. In my opinion, REITs should expand in to the residential sector as well so that developers can get the much needed funding for projects.
RERA is definitely a step in the right direction of bringing transparency in the realty sector. But, the large number of compliances & information now required from the developers has slowed down the real-estate business. In Haryana lack of RERA website has created problems for developers in getting RERA registration and without that they are unable to sell their projects.
The other obstacles facing the sector are expensive funding that is also hard to get and lack of infrastructure development. Also, most of the developers are still using traditional methods of construction and management. We need to adopt modern systems and approach towards buildings and development
Ease of doing business, single window clearances and faster approvals are the much pending demands of the real-estate stake holders.
Gurugram and the Dwarka Expressway
Dwarka e-way, the 24-km long 8-laned expressway awaiting completion since 2012, seems to have crossed the final hurdle with the central government acquiring the 22 hectares of land that had stalled the completion of the roadway. This is good news for the area as developers who have invested over Rs 60,000 crore in residential and commercial projects along the 150-metre-wide roadway, but had been struggling to sell projects due to lack of proper connectivity.
There are around 1.5 lakh home buyers who have suffered for more than a decade due to the delay and I understand their pain and have been in touch with them. In fact we were ready to contribute in whatever way required to complete the expressway as its completion would help revive real estate activity in the region. As the entire land required for completing the Dwarka Expressway now vests with NHAI and the tenders for construction have been floated, we are hopeful of a quick completion of the road project.
Gurugram residential sector is mainly driven by the bullish commercial and office market in Golf Course Road, DLF Cyber City and NH8. Some of the prominent micro markets are the Southern Periphery Road connecting Golf Course Road with NH-8, New Gurgaon, sectors near Manesar and areas around the Dwarka Expressway or Northern Periphery Road that connects Dwarka with National Highway 8.
Currently, the focus of most developers is completing the pending & on-going projects and offloading existing inventory. There have been few new project launches and transaction activity has remained low in NCR.
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Tags : Developers Speak