Various trade and business organizations including CREDAI and those from construction, industry and allied sectors in the state have urged the state government to revoke its decision taken to introduce new Kerala Municipality Building Rules (KMBR) 2019 and Kerala Panchayat Building Rules (KPBR) 2019.
Speaking to media persons soon after the meeting here on Tuesday, members urged the government to revoke the KMBR 2019 and frame building rules after consulting with the stakeholders in the respective sectors and also carrying out an impact study prior to the amendment of it.
The members said that various provisions in the KMBR and KPBR will have adverse impacts on the constructions of hospitals and hospitality industry sectors and various allied sectors as the new KMBR doesn’t allow construction of the front office reception, lobby and banquet halls together on the ground floor which makes the construction costlier.
The forum also said that various provisions in the sector will make construction of houses and land costlier and jobs of 8,000 engineers and 18 lakh employees working in various allied sectors will be affected if the government goes ahead with the new rules.
M A Mehaboob, former president of confederation of real estate developers’ associations of India (CREDAI), Calicut, said that the officials have framed the new building rules without properly consulting the concerned parties.
“The provisions will make industrial and apartment buildings unaffordable in the state. The public needs to pay Rs 700 to 1,000 per square meter at the purchase of apartment constructing adhering to KMBR rule 2019. The new rule makes a 10 m road mandatory for the construction of industrial buildings and warehouses of above 4,000 sq feet. It also increased floor index to 2.5 from 3.5. All these provisions will have an adverse impact on the construction sector especially in the construction of commercial buildings due to unavailability of land in a densely populated state like Kerala,” he said.
He said that the new rules make a 7 m road width mandatory for the construction of 8,000 to 18,000 sq feet housing construction work which is impractical in a state like Kerala. He said that the unavailability of land will result in increase in land price and will force industries to shift their base to other states.
He said the new provisions will make it difficult to take up construction work in the hospital and hospitality sectors. The forum members pointed out that the existing building rules gives approval of building plan in 30 days, but the new building rule proposes to give approval in 130 days which will force people to wait many months to obtain plans. At present building above 16 m height belongs to high-rise category. But new building rules will categorize all buildings with four floors and above as high-rise buildings.
