Property developers and construction firms across Tamil Nadu, who have protested against the steep hike in cement prices over the past month, can now breathe a little easy with the state government asking cement manufacturers to take steps to reduce escalating costs, amid demand from various quarters to control prices.
CM M Karunanidhi on Tuesday chaired a meeting of top state officials and cement manufacturers during which the government urged the firms to make efforts to reduce cement prices. An official press release here said that the cement industry was represented by top officials including N Srinivasan (India Cements), Ramasubramanya Raja (Madras Cements), PN Prabhakar of Dalmia Cements and others from major players such as Zuari Cements, Penna Cements and ACC Cements. The cement manufacturers are said to have assured the state government that they will revert after having a broad consultation among themselves on the price of cement. Earlier, the builders had charged cement manufacturers with having cut back production to create an artificial demand in the market. They also called for a one-day halt to construction activities in the state, last Thursday, and took out a rally in Chennai. According to them, from around Rs 140 per 50 kg bag in the last week of September this year, the cement price has doubled to Rs 280 over the last month for cement supplied to projects. In the retail market, it is sold around Rs 300 per bag now, as against Rs 160 at the end of September. “This steep increase in a very short period of time has completely impacted the construction activity. While property developers cannot increase the prices of residential units already sold, the construction companies that have accepted contracts at a certain rates have stopped their activities to prevent huge losses to them as high cement prices have made it impossible to complete projects within the planned estimates,” T Chitty Babu, president – Tamil Nadu chapter of Credai said. According to him, while in the past too there were steep increases in cement prices, the increase happened over a period of time, at around 10 – 15 per cent at a time. “An almost 100 per cent increase in cement prices is less than a month has made life difficult for every segment of the industry and most construction activities have come to a standstill, especially during festive season,” he added. Unable to explain the steep increase in cement prices, Credai had brought together various sections of the industry under one banner and sought the attention of the state government. “It is not just private projects, but several of the state’s infrastructure projects are affected by this development,” Chitty Babu pointed out. -- Regards Hardik Shah -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""GLOBAL SPECULATORS"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalspeculators?hl=en.
