Lockdown 4.0 is here to stay till May 31, 2020. Real Estate industry feels this lockdown is looking forward to balancing of Life and Livelihood.
By Varun Singh
Lockdown 4.0 has been announced, the orders from the Ministry of Home Affairs is already on its official website.
The lockdown that started from the last week of March has been extended till the end of May for now.
Meanwhile, the real estate industry has hopes that this lockdown will balance life and livelihood together.
Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani, President, (Nation) NAREDCO, said, “The extension has been announced, India welcomes the life-saving aspect, and looks forward to ‘relaxations and openings’ which will help sustain livelihood too.”
He says, “The ‘zoning’ will be decided by the State Governments/ Union Territories, and I see this shifting of decision-making as empowering the states, which is a good step. The economic reforms which have been announced along with the stimulus package point to a calibrated reopening of economic activity, and in Lockdown 4.0, the ‘ease of opening up’, with due precautions, comes as a ray of hope – we should see it enabling India to move into the ‘new normal’, of life along with buffer and containment zones.”
Many from the real estate industry are in favour of lockdown. Arqam Shaikh, of ARC Associates, says, “The lockdown needs to be there for some more time. Only then will we be able to stop the impact of the virus. The decision to extend it is a welcome move and on the expend lines.”
Meanwhile, at certain places construction work has already begun, with adequate precautions. But there are problems they are facing. Shaikh said, “Recently at one of the projects, construction work was initiated by the builder. However, on Sunday around 20 labourers left for their hometown. There is a need to instill faith in the migrant workers community.”
The Finance Minister on Sunday announced the 5th tranche of the “Atmanirbharbharat” package. There are many reliefs announced for the real estate industry too.
Manju Yagnik, Vice Chairperson, Nahar Group and Vice President NAREDCO (Maharashtra) on the reforms announced by FM on Sunday said, “All the reforms mentioned in all the three tranches have an underlying statement of “Ease of Doing Business” across sectors, across the industry to fulfill the objective outlined in Atmnirbharta package.”
Meanwhile, many developers say they need to understand better on how the reforms announced by FM will help the real estate industry. A developer said, “The packages announced by the FM needs to be studied well, so that we know how exactly is the real estate industry benefiting from all of the announcements. The real estate industry needs a lot of help from government to bring it back on track.”
Also read: Relief for Smaller Developers in 5th Relief Tranche
