The Hindu BusinessLine CAI EXPO 2019 at the Palace Grounds here on Friday brought together three aspects of real estate development — construction, architecture and interiors — under one roof. The three-day expo, during which companies will showcase products, innovations and services, and exchange ideas, was inaugurated by Director General of Police, Raghavendra Auradkar, who is also the CMD of Karnataka State Police Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation.
G. Guruprasad, Secretary, Karnataka Public Works Department, who was the special guest said: “The challenges before the engineering community, architects and builders is to build in a systematic, economical, sustainable and methodical way.”
For visitors, the event showcases the latest products and technologies available in the market and trends. An exhibitor, Navneet Nair, representing a concrete company, said they make value-added concrete that replaces 30 to 50% of cement with material such as fly ash (byproduct of burnt coal) and slag generated in the process of making steel. “It is environment friendly,” he said.
The economic slowdown and its impact on the market was also on people’s minds. “We have reduced our working hours for the first time in 37 years, this is the market reality. The real estate has taken a beating due to the market slowdown,” said a representative of a real estate company.
He hoped that through the expo he would reach out to new customers. “Our aim today is to show our old customers that we are still there, and for new customers to know that there is somebody who has been in the sector for a long time and can inject new products into the market,” he added.
