Sand scarcity hits realty in Kakinada

Kakinada: There is a lull in the apartment business in Kakinada and the construction of apartments is at a standstill due to lack of buyers. The middle class builders are the worst hit. Sand scarcity and the steep hike in construction costs are the main reasons.

The people, especially from middle class are not coming forward to buy apartments at present high rates. Even though the state government promised to procure sand supply at reasonable rates, the builders are still facing a huge problem.

There is no timely supply of sand and the rates are also high at Rs 16, 000 per two units. “We are facing lot of problems for getting sand. If it is available, the cost is too high,” said the Confederat-ion of Real Estates Development Association of India (CREDAI) Kakinada chapter chairman G.Rayudu.

He said the site cost, material cost, particularly sand and labour costs have push-ed up apartment rates. Acc-ording to builders, currently double bedroom apartme-nts are selling in range of Rs 26 lakhs to Rs 55 lakh according to the area and size.

“The sand issue has brought a negative image to CM N. Chandrababu Naidu’s image. Unless he streamlines and settles it can adversely affect the government.” said a TD leader and also a builder. He said that the government and also the district administration should take steps for setting things right. Meanwhile, the government has annou-nced that Kakinada would be turned into a Smart City. The buyers are showing interest in purchasing sites rather than apartments.

"The real estate business is looking up in recent times as the buyers prefer house sites than apartments. It is also one of the reasons for many projects being stalled midway,'' said the CREDAI state vice president S.S. Balaram.