Kolkata: Nearly 89% of the under-construction highrise projects that had submitted their details to the safety audit committee and thereafter underwent stringent scrutiny with 63-point checks have been cleared by the high-level committee. Developers’ body Credai said work had resumed in a majority of the project sites after being shut for over a month-and-a-half.
“Of the 706 under construction projects across 18 urban local bodies and block areas within Kolkata Metropolitan Area that had been identified by the govt for the audit exercise after the Taratala warehouse collapse, 102 did not submit their details as these were either govt projects or had received the certificate of completion. Of the remaining 604 projects, the govt has now cleared 535 projects. That is credit-worthy as the checks were exhaustive,” said Credai West Bengal president Sushil Mohta.
Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari as well as urban development and municipal affairs minister Agnimitra Paul had last week assured developers that most of the projects would be cleared by the revised Aug 15 deadline. Till then, around 60% of the projects had been cleared. The govt had also identified 27 projects that had grossly violated the sanctioned plans. Notices have been served to these projects. Credai was quick to point out that none of these projects were being developed by its members.
While there was apprehension of prolonged delays in projects due to the audit exercise, developers said they were pleasantly surpirsed at the urgency with which the team had carried out the audit at so many sites. The developers also felt the clearance after the audit would give the projects more credibility and assure home buyers to buy stock in them.
“The multi-agency vetting that has cleared the projects gives home buyers the assurance that all licences and govt approvals are in place and there are no construction violations,” explained Credai Kolkata past president Siddharth Pansari.
Following the nod from the high-level committee, work has resumed nearly full steam at more than 100 project sites that were cleared in the first tranche by July-end. Another 90 projects that were cleared by the first week of Aug have achieved 60% efficiency, developers said. The rest that have been cleared in the past week will ramp up as more workers join the sites.