New Delhi:Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday said the government is formulating a scheme to provide some financial assistance to contractors for temporary homes for labourers at their project sites.
Addressing a four-day 'Bharat Buildcon' international exhibition for building materials here, he stated that the proposed financial assistance would be provided from the labour cess that the state governments collect.
Khattar said the government is also considering to make it mandatory for real estate and construction companies to issue durability certificates for buildings.
The minister asked the industry representatives to focus on catering to all housing segments, from low-cost flats priced at Rs 5-10 lakh to super luxury homes.
He also asked the builders to speed up work using modern technology, focus on improving the quality and durability of buildings, and build green buildings.
Talking about labour welfare, Khattar said that state governments collect labour cess (1 per cent of contract value) from contractors.
He said the government is preparing a scheme to provide "some financial assistance" to those contractors who make "temporary residences" for labourers during the construction period.
The assistance will be provided from the "labour cess fund", he said, adding that the scheme will be announced soon.
This aid would lower contractors' total capex for creating such temporary homes.
Khattar outlined that there have been some cases where buildings were demolished after being declared 'not livable'. Therefore, the ministry is considering making it mandatory for builders to issue durability certificates.
Till such a move, he asked the industry to start issuing such certificates on its own.
Emphasising faster execution of projects, Khattar said around 70-90 crore square metres are built annually, and there is a need to increase the pace of work by using modern technologies such as pre-fab.
The minister highlighted that the government has brought a policy of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) to allow construction of real estate projects within 500 metres of metros, roads, railway tracks and RRTS (regional rapid transit system) to reduce traffic congestion.
Recently, he said, the NCR planning board (NCRPB) has decided to build four new cities to reduce population pressure on the national capital.
The Minister said the government is focusing a lot on the infrastructure sector, increasing the infra budget to Rs 12.2 lakh crore for the 2026-2027 fiscal, compared to a mere Rs 2 lakh crore in 2014.
Khattar also noted that the country currently has 1,155 km of metro rail network and another 950 km is under construction.
Addressing the event, Jitin Prasada, the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, highlighted that India has signed many free trade agreements (FTAs) with developed countries, which would open up significant business opportunities, especially for MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises).
He invited foreign companies to set up base in India.
"But I want to tell our foreign participants, don't treat India as just a market where you sell your products and take the profits away. We in India want to partner with you. We want our MSMEs to grow with you," he said.
Realtors’ body NAREDCO President Parveen Jain said the focus on accelerating construction to meet the demands of rapid urbanisation, while ensuring quality, durability, sustainability and affordability, is both timely and essential for India's growth trajectory.