The impact of excess and continuing rains in Mysuru and surrounding regions is not only affecting farmers and agriculture, but even the construction sector.
Builders are overshooting the deadline for their projects which has a cascading impact on costs and is ultimately passed on to the end-users. It has also affected real estate developers who have to clear the land and dig the foundation. But waterlogging has resulted in delay, affecting the project deadlines.
‘’The rain-related delay can be pegged at around 3 to 4 months and roofing and external plastering of buildings tend to get held up’’, said .N.Subramanya, one of the builders and member of the Builders Association of India, Mysuru centre.
Citing his case Mr.Subramanya said the work on a particular project which was supposed to get completed two months ago, has been delayed. He said planning of building construction revolved around the assumption that there would be atleast 8 to 9 months of sunny days and most engineers in the construction sector ensured that plastering and roofing were completed during this period. But it is no longer that straightforward given the unseasonal and prolonged rains.
‘’Apart from the rains affecting building construction, it has also affected layout formation and water logging has resulted in projects being postponed. Land preparation and laying of foundation is affected by saturated soil and slush’’, said Ravindra Bhat of BAI and founder of Foundations Ltd, a housing and apartment construction firm in the city.
He said it is not only the apartment and commercial buildings that are getting delayed; even individual houses taken up by contractors have been affected. ‘’Most builders tend to plan their works in such a way that the rainy season used to be reserved for completing the interiors. But with no sign of abatement of the rainy season, things have turned topsy-turvy’’, he added.
Hence it is common to see large-sized water-proof tarpaulin sheets adorning the structures. However, in case of layout formation and land development the only option is to sit out and wait and watch the deadline lapse and cost escalate, said Mr. Bhat.
Excess and unseasonal rains that is being experienced in Mysuru and surrounding regions since the last few years has thrown up new challenges and that the issue is serious stems from the rainfall statistics of the district.
According to Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), the rainfall during October was 241 mm against a normal of 145 mm. Between October 1 and November 23 the rainfall has been 264 mm against a normal of 196 mm. But the cumulative rainfall between January 1 and November 23 is 1,273 mm against a normal of 820 mm. In case of south interior Karnataka the rainfall has been 1,186 mm against a normal of 695 mm during the same period.
