Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India-AP Chapter State General Secretary K.S.C. Bose on Saturday urged both the Union and the State governments to take stern action against cement, steel and other companies which almost doubled the prices in a span of one year although the cost of their input materials was relatively stable across the nation. He held a high-level meeting with representatives of AP Chambers, The National Real Estate Development Council, Builders Association of India, State Andhra Pradesh Builders and Contractors Association, Architects Association and others over the abnormal hike in prices of cement, steel, plumbing material, tiles, electrical goods and others. The association which came on a single platform for the first time observed ‘Stop Work’, a construction holiday, on Saturday.
Addressing the media conference on the occasion, Mr. Bose alleging that the syndicate of cement and steel companies were revising prices on a day-to-day basis. “A tonne of steel was available at ₹45,000 in 2021 but it is now priced at ₹86,000 per tonne. The cement bag, which was priced at ₹250 a year ago, is now available at around ₹400. The revision of prices of other materials is also done on a day-to-day basis, putting the entire construction industry in crisis,” he added.
‘Appoint high-level committee’
“The real estate sector creates the highest employment after agriculture. It generates huge income for the nation in the form of GST as 250 varieties of materials are bought by builders. The livelihood of direct labour and employees and workers of those material supply companies will be at risk with the crisis in the construction industry,” Mr. Bose added. He urged the government to appoint a high-level committee with experts to study the material, production and transport cost so that the prices would be fixed in accordance to their expenditure.
CREDAI-Vizianagaram chapter representatives V. Parthasarathi, Ch.S.N. Raju, K. Rajasekhar and others urged the traders, who were supplying those materials, to cooperate with them since their business was also affected very badly with the stopping of nearly 100 ongoing projects in Vizianagaram city itself. State Andhra Pradesh Builders and Contractors Association-Vizianagaram district president P. Gopi said that the contractors were unable to take up any works with the skyrocketing prices of cement, steel and other building material.
