The construction industry sees a ray of hope with reopening of sand reaches in the State. The builders feel that sand mining would bring a relief from sand prices that went through the roof in recent past.
With meagre supplies from two sand reaches in the district, sand price hovered between Rs. 12,000 and Rs. 13,000 per lorry in market. The price has, now, come down to Rs. 7,000 with reopening of the sand reaches.
Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) Vijayawada chapter president Y.V. Ramana Rao feels that normalcy would restore by the end of November.
Unlike past, the sand prices may not to rise in unscientific manner as the government is fixing the price. The prices would also stabilise once all the reaches start functioning, he opines.
Construction activity has almost come to a standstill in the city with acute shortage of sand and escalation in prices in the district. The sand, normally, used to be available in a price range of Rs.3,000 and Rs. 5,000 per lorry.
But, the prices steeply rose due to acute shortage and touched Rs. 33,000 per 20 tonnes.
CREDAI State president A. Siva Reddy says there are more than 1,000 builders across the State, who are feeling the pinch of sand scarcity and escalating prices. About 1,000 lorries of sand is required every day to keep the construction activity going on. But, the activity has come down 50 per cent due to sand scarcity. Now, sand availability is expected to boost the construction activity, he says.
The builders have taken up about 200 to 300 projects in the city and its outskirts. Each project requires, on average, one lorry of eight tonnes. Non-availability of sand almost pushed the industry into doldrums.
All quarries were closed, except two reaches out of the 72, in the district following an order by the High Court in 2012-13. The sand prices were on rise since then, Mr. Ramana Rao said.
