Hit by rising construction material costs, the Federation of Flat and Housing Promoters Association on Saturday asked the government to take measures, including cut in stamp duty and faster approvals, to ease the pressure on the sector.

“In Chennai alone about 20,000 construction works, including building of new houses and renovation works happen in a day. The abnormal jump in cement prices from Rs 250 a bag to Rs 350 and the same price inflating to Rs 40 a unit have crippled the industry badly”, Federation’s President P Manishankar said in a statement.

“It is the need of the hour for the government to save the industry from the impact. Adding to our woes is the delay in (project) plan approvals. So we also seek measures to grant quicker plan approvals,” he said.

The Federation requested the government to reduce stamp duty from eight per cent to one per cent against the increase in government’s guideline value of lands.

It also asked for relaxation of Floor Space Index (FSI) to 2 from 1.5 with amendment in the development control rules.

Observing that high costs has resulted in high number of job losses for labourers, he asked the government to take steps to curb the practice of possible cartelisation that gives rise to “invisible pricing of cement“.

Setting up of a separate committee to maintain uniform sand prices throughout the year was also one of the Federation’s demands.

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