The Builders Association of India (BAI) recently organized a meeting and proclaimed their issues that have not been addressed by the Government for a long time. This meeting was held at Grand Regent, Coimbatore, on Thursday.
The meeting was attended by several BAI officials, including National President Narasimha Reddy, Past National President Radha Krishnan, State Chairman Ayyappan, Organising Chairman BAI MC & GC Meet Viswanathan, Executive Secretary Raju John, Coimbatore Centre Chairman Ganesh Kumar, and President of SouthZone-II John Paul.
During the meeting, BAI officials emphasized the urgent need for a single window clearance system to streamline the various authorities involved in construction projects. They also requested that the Government of India take full responsibility for land acquisition and make it available to contractors before awarding contracts.
In addition, BAI urged the government to exempt cement imports from customs duty and regulate cement prices through the appointment of a Cement Regulatory Authority and to align contract conditions with FIDIC contract conditions. The BAI also called for the modernization of contract conditions, allocation of funds for labour welfare cess, and the use of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) funds for up-skilling construction workers.
BAI officials also implored the government to exempt internal minor changes, such as internal partitions and door and window locations, from the norms mentioned in Annexure XXII of TNCDBR 2019 to issue Completion Certificates by LPA. They also highlighted concerns regarding strict regulations imposed by the Tamil Nadu Combined Development and Building Rule 2019, particularly regarding buildings between 15 to 18.3 meters in height being denied electricity connections. BAI requested that the National Building Code be modified accordingly.
Lastly, BAI officials requested that the finance provided to construction companies be restructured and that the recent announcement of the government allowing free FDI to the construction industry be implemented for better finance arrangements for all infrastructure and housing industries in the country. They also requested the inclusion of petrol, diesel, etc., under the GST regime.
Overall, BAI officials hoped that the government would take these issues seriously and implement the necessary reforms to address the concerns of the construction industry.