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Hyderabad, The Builders’ Association of India (BAI) emphasised on the need for immediate reforms and regulatory mechanism for the construction sector to ensure a streamlined growth, resulting in enhanced contribution to the Indian economy in the long-term.
The 28th All India Builders’ Convention will be held from January 19 – 21, 2018, at the Clarks Exotica in southern city of India inBangalore.
Disclosing this in a Press Note issued in Hyderabad today, H N Vijaya Raghava Reddy, National President, BAI, said “BAI has identified nine core issues affecting the sector and will drive for regulations with the state and central governments. When addressed, they will help better organize the sector, which is a major contributor to India’s GDP employing more than 35 million workers. In addition, attracting FDI to the sector and fast-tracking India’s infrastructure development will be easier.”
Elaborating on the proposed reforms and regulations, B Seenaiah Chief Patron, BAI,said “The Union 
Government has declared an INR 65 Lakh Crore investment plan for development of 100 Smart Cities, new township formats like CIDCO, DDA, MHADA, Industrial Corridor, Power Projects, Dams, Bridges, Airports and Seaports, but several issues still need to be resolved. At present, the land acquisition process has highly complex implications. We request the Government to take full responsibility of land acquisition and handover the same to contractors before awarding the contracts. The contractors should not be allowed to deal directly with the landowners, as it would result in unnecessary delays.”
The subcontractors in the construction sector are still levied GST of 18% which has to be reduced further. Also, out of the Real Estate Industry GST of 18%, 6% is regarded as land value. Land valuation deduction under construction of complexes, should be based on actual cost of the land or should be based on value mentioned in the Ready Reckoner. “Blanket deduction will result in exaggeration of the land value,” Seenaiah pointed out.
He appealed to the Government set up a “Cement Regulatory Authority” to control the pricing and prevent cartelization by cement manufacturers and unfair practices. “In fact, if a regulatory mechanism is in place, the cost of house construction can be reduced to a competitive Rs 50 per sq.ft. making housing affordable for all,” he said.
The Convention will evolve specific recommendations to overcome the problems faced by the Builders and Contractors. The same will be presented to the Government Departments, Agencies at State and Central Levels; Institutions engaged in Training, Formulation of Standards, Codes, Research and Development, the release stated
