KOCHI: Five years after four high-rise apartment complexes in Maradu were razed to the dust in seconds in 2020 for violating coastal regulation zone (CRZ) norms, the fast-developing area in the neighbourhood of Kochi city is seeing a steady increase in construction activity. However, the number of new high-rises has come down drastically.
Data from Maradu municipality show that building permits issued for residential and commercial buildings have more than doubled in last five years. In 2019, a year before the demolitions, 121 building permits were issued. In the year of the demolition, 113 building permits were issued. This increased three-fold when 356 building permits were issued in 2021. In 2022, the municipality issued 332 building permits, and in 2023, the number of permits issued was 241.
However, Maradu municipality authorities said that these are mostly building permits for independent houses and small commercial projects. They have not been able to attract real estate investments for high-rise residential and commercial buildings, especially in prime waterfront areas that once commanded high property value, they said.
Maradu municipality and Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Credai) estimated that since 2020, this drop is more than 40%.
“Flat demolitions happened at a time when Maradu was seeing rapid real estate expansion with major players investing in the area, especially in waterfront parts at Kundannoor. But the flat demolitions became a black spot for us and has affected our overall revenue too,” said Maradu municipality chairperson Antony Ashanparambil.
Municipality officials said that though they tried to create awareness amongst investors about the reclassification of CRZ-2 areas to CRZ-3, ensuring that many waterfront areas in the municipality no longer fall within the no-construction zone under CRZ, they have failed to attract investment. Now the local body plans to host an investors’ meet in March.
Explaining why major builders are not interested in investing in Maradu, Credai Kochi president Ravi Jacob said,
“People are hesitant to buy apartments in the area, and due to this lack of demand, builders too are apprehensive. No one wants to spend money constructing high-rise buildings in an area where demand is low amongst buyers.”
However, municipality officials are hopeful that if the Supreme Court gives approval to issue licences for new high-rise buildings on the demolished sites, then the situation may change.
“Some builders have shown interest in re-utilizing the land where once the demolished buildings stood and construct high-rise buildings. But it all depends on SC approval,” said Maradu municipality vice-chairperson TM Reshmi Sanil.
Source Homevior.in
