The Managing Director of real-estate developer Chintels Prashant Solomon looks happy. The company’s flagship ‘Chintels Metropolis’ being developed on the Dwarka-Gurgaon expressway has its first developments near readiness, “We should be able to start deliveries early 2015”, Solomon assures.
The company has an impressive land-bank of 400 acres on the Dwarka-Gurgaon Expressway, much of which was acquired over two decades ago, well before the area became a hub for developers and even before the Dwarka sub-city itself started, “my father was prescient”, Solomon jokes.
However, on the sidelines of a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Real Estate summit, Solomon who is on the governing council of Real Estate industry body CREDAI admits that things have been difficult for the industry. However, he believes that recent political developments and the associated economic goodwill should translate into increased demand later this year.
While Solomon’s developments on the Dwarka Expressway and Gurgaon have managed to avoid controversy, he believes that the problems on the Noida-Greate Noida stretch can be blamed on both on confusion between Governmental agencies and the greed of some developers.
“Some developers try to use increased FSI (floor space index) in existing projects, thereby breaking promises to existing homeowners. A few others have made inordinate delays. However, despite public perception of most developers being rich and unscrupulous, the reality is that most of us work under extremely trying conditions”, Solomon says.
As an example Solomon cites the problems that several developers are facing with regard to the National Green Tribunal order on the Okhla bird sanctuary which has delayed deliveries of thousands of flats. He also argues that sometimes permissions take far too long, “the airport clearance is important, but in countries like America, this is an online process, where you enter the geographic location of your project and you get permission or get denied in a day. Here the process takes months. Sometimes you get Environmental clearance but no fire clearance, and other times, the rules and regulations do not keep up with the times. For example, there is no mention of multi-level car-parks under the Haryana fire code, which stalled development in one of our projects.”
Solomon also reiterates the real-estate sector’s demand for industry status, “there is no doubt that housing is a crucial infrastructure need on the nation. If we get industry status, we will be able to raise funds far more easily and at lower rates.”