Chennai Corporation’s construction guidelines lack clarity, say builders
The guidelines communicated to us were unclear and vague, said a builder, adding that this would result in various complications as the building sector has already been facing setbacks.
Greater Chennai Corporation (Photo: Hemanathan M)
CHENNAI: Despite the Corporation’s guidelines for the city builders to ensure clean and safe construction in place, builders of several high-rise buildings under construction are not ready to follow the new protocols, alleging they lack clarity and require more input cost.
The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) issued several guidelines to the builders and real estate developers for safe and clean construction including barricading the work site with tin or metal sheets to avoid spillage of dust and debris to control the air pollution.
The guidelines communicated to us were unclear and vague, said a builder, adding that this would result in various complications as the building sector has already been facing setbacks.
The guidelines emphasise all the construction sites must be covered with high-density fabric, but the material mentioned by the local body is not even available in the city, he added.
Most of the construction sites have already been covered with green nets as the workers mostly stay inside the building, said another builder, adding that barricading the site with metal sheets will not be possible. As the guidelines are not specific, it will create more confusion between the builders and GCC, he opined, adding that the new rules can turn out to be a drawback for us as eventually, we may end up paying fines.
As most of the builders are uncertain regarding the guidelines, several construction sites especially, high-rise buildings are not prepared to barricade with high-density fabric or metal sheets.
However, an official from GCC said that the decision was taken after conducting workshops with builders and contractors. We are planning to monitor all the construction sites and will instruct our engineers to monitor if the guidelines are followed or not, he said, adding that if builders fail to follow the guidelines they will be fined.
The GCC had issued several guidelines to the builders including barricading the construction site with high-density fabric or metal sheets to the height proportion to the building site and barring them from throwing debris in public spaces. The violators may face fines ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 5 lakh depending upon the size of the site.
