Kolkata: Construction activity came to a standstill at nearly 700 sites across the city on Thursday after the govt issued a stop-work notice following the warehouse collapse and deaths near Taratala.The real estate industry spent an anxious day, hoping the govt would review its decision within the next few days and allow major projects by developers with a proven track record to resume. Industry representatives said a five-week shutdown would be crippling as provisional estimates pegged the daily industry loss caused by the stop-work order at Rs 20-25 crore.“The organised real estate projects are executed under the strict supervision of qualified engineers, adhere to sanctioned plans, and maintain rigid quality controls. Unfortunate site mishaps are historically isolated to unauthorised structures or unorganised local builders operating outside the formal development industry. The govt should focus on the latter on a priority basis,” said a leading developer with construction underway at multiple sites in Kolkata.Several developers TOI spoke to said they were ready to extend unconditional cooperation to the administration to ensure that every norm and rule of law is upheld transparently. “We are ready to submit documents to the committee set up to audit under-construction projects. We only hope the panel vets the papers and allows constructions to resume next week,” a developer said.The Licensed Building Surveyors Association, which draws building plans, oversees construction and manages property valuations, wrote to the CM, seeking a review of the order. They said several projects in the KMC area were at crucial stages with partially complete excavation, piling, raft foundations, pile caps and basement construction that could be damaged if left incomplete in the rain. “There is likelihood of excavation failure, foundation instability, collapse of unsupported earth sections, damage to adjoining buildings, roads,” said association president Animesh Guria.The shutdown is also expected to delay project delivery timelines, which have been affected by supply chain disruptions caused by the Iran war and work stoppages, linked to labour availability issues during the SIR exercise, followed by the election. “We earlier asked the West Bengal Real Estate Regulatory Authority to extend the project deadlines by six months. If the work closure continues for five weeks, we have to seek more time,” a developer said.Labour contractors said 25,000-30,000 daily wage workers, employed at sites, would be the worst affected, as they would not receive any payment until work resumed. “The vast majority of our construction workforce consists of daily wage labourers. A sudden stoppage of work will deal an immediate financial blow to these underprivileged families,” said a labour contractor.Developers also fear a month-long closure could trigger the migration of skilled labourers, either back to their villages or to other states, deepening the skilled labour shortage in Kolkata’s real estate sector. “That will make it exceptionally difficult to remobilise them and restart projects later,” said a developer.
