Gurugram: Developers of affordable housings to share work updates, complete project in time

To ensure that developers of affordable housing projects in the city complete the work within stipulated time, the department of town and country planning (DTCP)

To ensure that developers of affordable housing projects in the city complete the work within stipulated time, the department of town and country planning (DTCP) held a meeting with over 45 license holders in which their respective project statuses were discussed. To streamline the process, the department has also issued directions that all developers should share construction updates after every 15 days, said officials. The review meeting comes after home buyers in several projects raised the issue of delay in construction of these housing projects.

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According to government rules, an affordable housing project has to be completed within four years after approval is granted.

Currently, Gurugram has 80 affordable housing projects out of which eight have already obtained occupation certificates while the rest are in various stages of construction. Notices were issued to 72 license holders, who were asked to share details and also update accordingly, said Ravi Sihag, senior town planner.

“The meeting was attended by 45 developers and we will issue notices to the rest of them within a day or two. We have asked all developers to focus on completion within the stipulated time. They have also been asked to share updates regarding construction and we have also asked them to explain the reasons for delays,” said Sihag.

The developers who were in the meeting with DTCP officials agreed to abide by the timelines but informed the department that migration of construction workers at a large scale had brought work to a standstill. “We are trying to get the labour force back but the lockdown has led to delays in construction. Also, the work was affected in the winter months last year when construction was banned due to pollution,” said a developer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Sihag said that the issue of labour migration did come up in the meeting but he has asked builders to take all measures for completing construction as most of the buyers in affordable projects were end users, who had bought the properties for personal use.

In a related development, the enforcement wing of the DTCP carried out a demolition drive on the Golf Course extension road in which encroachment on green belts was removed extensively. On Wednesday, the team led by RS Bhath, the district town planner, cleared 15 acres of land which was being developed as unauthorised colonies. Bhath said unauthorised constructions were coming up in sector 34 and sector 72 and these were removed amid a lot of resistance by owners.