News: Housing ministry official asks builders to work with civic bodies and weigh each project’s urban footprint-18-09-2026
Developers should work closely with municipal agencies to build the infrastructure that projects need and assess each project’s impact beyond its boundaries, said D Thara, secretary (Department of Capital Development) in the ministry of housing and urban affairs. She spoke in the Capital on September 18 at CII’s real estate conference on the evolving landscape of Indian real estate.
Thara listed the externalities to weigh: the water a project displaces, the sewage it generates, the energy it consumes and the infrastructure it needs. She asked developers to focus on rain harvesting, water recycling and sewage treatment, and to define value more broadly than price, counting infrastructure burden, resource use and environmental impact.
Sriram Khattar, co-chairman of the CII National Committee on Real Estate and Housing and Vice Chairman and MD of DLF Rental Business, said real estate is about creating inclusive, sustainable communities, not just structures. Harshvardhan Bansal, chairman of CII Delhi State and co-founder of Unity Group, called for a true single-window approval system in which applications move across authorities simultaneously. Ashwinder R Singh, Chairman of CII Northern Region and Vice Chairman of BCD Group, said affordability must be built across the value chain through better FSI, efficient land models, faster approvals and cheaper capital. Gulam Zia of Knight Frank India said the real opportunity lies in bringing infrastructure, housing and real estate together.
CREDAI-NCR president and Ashiana Housing MD Vishal Gupta said a shortage of quality contractors and skilled labour is raising construction costs. RERA has restored trust, he said, but must be paired with ease of doing business to cut delays in plan approvals and registrations. He also sought rationalised taxes, noting that the lack of GST input tax credit adds to costs, a larger land supply, less reliance on plotted development, affordable capital and a more predictable regulatory environment.
