Project Delays Cause Anxiety Among Home Buyers

Bangalore: Under construction residential developments have become a frequent issue in real estate sector and home buyers are getting trapped into this problem. In Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), delays in projects are a serious cause of concern among potential home buyers. Mainly areas like Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and far flung suburbs of central and western Mumbai are witnessing over 50 percent of residential projects lying in under construction state, reports Ashish K Tiwari and Promit Mukherjee of DNA.

According to Liases Foras, real estate rating and research firm, the data collected in June 2012 quarter clearly indicates the delays in residential projects by over 24 months, with South Mumbai, central suburbs and western suburbs reporting 30 percent, 28 percent and 18 percent delays respectively.

Moreover, Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) has seen projects that are moving at a slow rate and are running behind 12 to 24 months than the scheduled time period. The higher percentage of such projects are mainly observed in areas like Thane by 37 percent, central suburbs beyond Thane by 32 percent, Navi Mumbai by 31 percent and western suburbs up to Borivali by 30 percent.

Delays in projects are faced even by the prominent developers that include Lodha, HDIL, DB Realty, Runwal and Lokhandwala among others. Also there are two significant reasons why developers’ are finding hard to complete their projects on time, firstly due to the hike in input costs and secondly, securing project approvals, which is a major challenge for most of the developers.

For instance, a spokesperson form Lodha Group said that their upcoming project called Casa Royale in Thane area is witnessing delay due to unavoidable reasons that are beyond their reach. The spokesperson further stated that “Undue and long delays in making decisions by the authorities concerned in providing us approvals and other such unforeseen circumstances have delayed the project. We have given a representation to the Thane Municipal Corporation and taken the matter to the high court to provide us necessary approvals to complete the construction. The high court has issued directions to the authority concerned to decide our representation in six weeks,” reports DNA.