Kolkata: Even as the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) on Friday cited the ‘Force Majeure’ clause due to the war in Iran to grant a four-month extension to real estate projects across the country, KMC on Friday said the stop-work on high-rise projects being audited would continue, refusing any relief to developers who had pleaded for resumption of work at the sites.“The stop work on under-construction high-rise projects will continue till the audit is completed. Only those projects that have been cleared can resume work. New projects can start construction against submission of an undertaking that all rules and regulations will be met,” KMC administrator Smita Pandey said on Friday when the initial deadline set for the audit of around 500 under-construction projects expired.Developers in Kolkata had urged KMC and state to allow work to resume in under-construction projects against undertakings while the audit continued. But Pandey’s announcements virtually ruled it out, leaving thousands of home buyers fretting over delayed delivery timelines.“The Centre on Friday issued an advisory, extending the timeline for projects by four months due to disruptions in supplies caused by the Iran war. But in Kolkata, where projects have had to face additional disruptions due to SIR and elections, the suspension of all high-rise constructions following the warehouse collapse near Taratala has pushed back projects by 10 months. We will urge the govt to extend the deadline by at least nine months,” said an official of Credai, the umbrella organisation representing major developers.MoHUA on Friday invoked force majeure, which translates to extraordinary events, like natural disasters or war or a pandemic, and issued an advisory to Real Estate Regulatory Authorities (RERA) in states to extend the registration of projects by four months. “The regulatory authorities may issue suitable orders or directions for grant of extension of registration and corresponding completion timelines of registered real estate projects whose completion date, revised completion date or extended completion date falls on or after Feb 28, 2026 for a period of four months,” the advisory to all RERA officials read.Developers in Kolkata welcomed the advisory but pointed out that Bengal RERA and KMC needed to extend various deadlines, including the plan sanction date. “For projects in Kolkata, four months will be woefully inadequate. We have lost three months to SIR and elections when labour attendance at work sites was impacted. The stop-work has further complicated matters. Even if the KMC had allowed work to resume on Friday after five weeks of stop-work, it would have taken at least three more weeks to mobilise workers. But with the civic body extending the stop-work, projects and delivery timelines could be delayed by 10 months,” said a developer.
