As construction cost goes north, plan to own a dream house put off
Neeraj Bagga
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, June 22
Construction cost has spiralled post the lockdown, which is acting as a deterrent for those wanting to raise a dream house. Davinder Singh, a building contractor, said the demand was missing from the market for construction material, yet their prices were increased after the lockdown restrictions were eased.
He said the construction of an ordinary house rose from Rs1,200 to Rs1,300 per square feet to Rs1,700 per square feet.
There was a tremendous fall in the construction activity in comparison to the corresponding period last year. He said since he dealt with construction of small houses, a majority of the users in this bracket had put off their construction plans. Both coarse and fine sand measuring 100 cubic feet were available at Rs3,600. Before the lockdown, fine sand used to be available at Rs2,000 and coarse sand at Rs3,000.
Mandeep Singh, a leading architect, said only those who were in the need of housing were out in the market and people with long-term plan were watching the scenario to favourably change to start construction.
Puneet Joshi, an advocate, who is in the middle of constructing his house, said he had to abandon construction of his new house after getting the foundation laid and raising 5-feet high boundary wall, as the lockdown was imposed to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Resumption of the stalled construction meant spike in material cost. A lot of 1,000 bricks now cost between Rs5,800 to Rs6,000, which was earlier priced at Rs5,000, gravel was now costing Rs3,000 from previous Rs2,200. Similarly, a cement bag rose from Rs360 to Rs400 and sariya (iron bar) costs Rs50 per kg now.
