Consumers Equally Responsible for Unfinished Projects- NAREDCO

October 5, 2009	(2 votes, average: 3 out of 5)  Loading ...
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Looking at the current situation of the real estate sector, the government plans to bring a system and some regulations in the sector. The draft of a bill to regulate the real estate developers and sector has already been circulated to seek views from stakeholders. To be produced in the coming Parliament session, the draft envisages an industry regulator with powers to administer projects, protect buyers’ interest and punish developers not adhering to regulation. Apparently, the developers do not want to accept it in the currently drafted form. Rohtas Goel, president NAREDCO and CMD Omaxe said: “It would be unfair to treat a civil offence as a criminal which the bill talks of.”

The state of the industry is still in doldrums, it seems. While the bill would talk about stringent rules for a developer before launching a new project, the National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), a body representing stakeholders of the industry, feels that end users, that is, customers, are equally responsible for the incomplete housing projects as are the developers. It’s a blame game story, which will always be there. According to R R Singh, director general, NAREDCO, “Everybody is accountable, be it developers, architects, brokers or contractors. Just a developer is not responsible for an incomplete project.”

Coming back to our government’s initiatives, NAREDCO, under the aegis of Ministry of Housing Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India, is organizing a national conference on “Public Private Partnership in Housing” to evolve innovative, transparent and hassle free Public Private Partnership models which could bring synergy between public and private sector in tackling the housing requirement of urban India, especially the urban poor.

So the next to happen in the industry is the conference now. It will take place on, Friday, October 9, 2009 at India Habitat Centre and several dignitaries of public as well as private sector will be participating in the event. The National Conference will be inaugurated by Kumari Selja, Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Tourism, Govt. of India.

According to Goel, “There’s a shortfall of more than 24.7 million houses in India and most of this demand comes from lower strata of our population. Despite best attempts of Government and private sector, this shortage has not been met. There is a need to synergize efforts of Government and private sector for mass social housing on a wide scale. Public Private Partnership is the need of the hour so that mass housing is made possible, houses become affordable and slums can be done away with.”

Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Govt. of India; Planning Commission, Govt. of India; United Nation Habitat; Housing and Urban Development Corporation Ltd. (HUDCO); Building Material and Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC) and leading private sector developers from across the country will be participating in the Conference.

Hopefully, the conference will go a little further than mere discussions; resulting in some concrete actions. The public private partnership in housing along with the government’s support aims to develop 2.5 crore affordable houses in next five years. Well, that’s their aim but there is no road map made for the same as yet, which in itself signifies their seriousness towards the goal; and building 2.5 in five years is no child’s play.

News Published Under:   Real Estate India |

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