The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (Credai), Tamil Nadu is working on the development of standard operating procedures which would be circulated among all its members to be adhered to in their construction work, according to Rajesh B Lund, President, Credai, Coimbatore.

Building collapse

The initiative comes in the wake of the recent collapse of the under-construction 11-storey apartment building in Mouliwakkam near Chennai that led to the death of nearly 60 persons.

Speaking to newsmen in Coimbatore on Wednesday, he said following the building collapse nearly 7 weeks ago, Credai, Tamil Nadu has formed a team consisting of experts from Anna University and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to go into the cause of the accident.

He said the association is also working on developing "standard operating procedures'' by a team of experts in Chennai. This would be circulated among all the members of Credai in the state to be adhered to in their construction activity. He expects the guidelines to be ready in another two months.

Outlining some of the topics to be covered in the exercise, he said it would go into issues like conducting soil testing and the agencies to be entrusted with the work, the seismic zone of each city for development, how to supervise the construction work etc.

Insurance cover

Asked whether Credai would insist on the developers getting insurance cover, including the liability of buyers (the flat buyers in Mouliwakkam project had paid much of the money to the developer as the building was close to completion), Lund said: "Ihe insurance company will only compensate the cost of the project in such cases.''

There was "no provision'' where the insurance company would cover the buyer. It might now become mandatory for projects to get insurance cover before banks extend loans. The guidelines would also go into the issue of protecting the developers as well as buyers.

He pointed out that a plethora of agencies are involved in construction works - architects who design buildings, soil testing agencies and structural consultants, project management team that is put in place to oversee the works etc. It is important to consider the capability of promoters in executing the projects. All these issues are being looked into while drafting the guidelines.

He said Credai Tamil Nadu has expressed its desire to be associated in the Smart City project for which Ponneri close to Chennai has been identified. While the Government would take up infrastructure development, private developers would have opportunities to be involved in construction activity.

He was not able to comment on the size of the business opportunity available as the project was still in a very preliminary stage.

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