Realty faces labour crisis, only 40% projects resume

MUMBAI: The real estate sector in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) continues to totter, as work has started in hardly 40% of construction sites. Acute labour shortage and monetary crises are cited as the reasons for the same.

According to real estate firm Liases Foras, work has started in around 4,200 of the total 10,500 sites in MMR. “Even in these 4,200 sites, there is no significant work going on in the majority of them,” said the firm’s managing director, Pankaj Kapoor. He said work has started in full swing in just 10% of the total sites.

Kapoor has a point, and it can be illustrated in the state of affairs of Prajapati Group. Of its three projects, two – one in Dronagiri and the other in New Panvel – have started. In the case of the Dronagiri project, there are four labourers on the site as opposed to the 70 working there prior to the Covid-19 lockdown. At the New Panvel site, just eight people are working instead of the required 80.

Rajesh Prajapati, committee member, Credai-maharashtra Chambers of Housing Industry (MCHI) and managing director, Prajapati Group, blames lack of transport facilities for this impasse. “MMR depends on migrant labour and though they want to come back, they are unable to do so because of lack of trains,” said Prajapati. Avighna Group arranged flight tickets for 88 workers from West Bengal for its new project in south Mumbai’s Worli area.

“Work is delayed by six months due to the pandemic, and we cannot afford more setbacks. This forced us to arrange flight tickets as well as offer 25% extra wages for our workers,” said group managing director Nishant Agrawal

According to MCHI, the apex industry body in the MMR, close to 700,000 of the 900,000 on-site real estate workforce returned to their hometowns as Mumbai emerged as the country’s worstaffected Covid-19 hot spot in April.

The Builders Association of India (BAI) says these are gloomy days for the realty sector. “There are no sales taking place and hence, builders have no funds to execute their projects,” said Anand Gupta, chairman, (Housing and Rera Committee), BAI.