CREDAI decries price spiral in construction materials

The Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (CREDAI) Kochi chapter urged the government to intervene and control the sudden spurt in the prices of construction materials including cement, steel and aggregates. The builders are in deep distress and will be forced to increase the cost by ₹1000 per sq feet. President, Ravi Jacob, informed that the rate of cement has doubled during the past one year and steel prices have gone up from ₹47 per kg to ₹90 per kg. The recent Supreme Court order on the minimum distance of stone quarries from residential areas will again lead to an acute shortage of aggregates. The construction sector is showing signs of revival after the lockdown but the unabated price increase will bring the construction sector to a standstill and will affect the consumers adversely.

The South Indian Cement Manufacturers Association (SICMA) informed that the shortage of coal has led to an increase in production cost and the price of cement may go up by a minimum of ₹60 per bag. The last few months have witnessed an unprecedented increase in the cost of imported coal and the substitute pet coke is simply not available. Due to a shortage of vessels, even high priced coal is not available.