What Developers Can Do To Handle Pollution's Deadly Attack On Their Business

Air pollution has become a serious problem for city dwellers. According to the estimates by Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health, air contamination kills about 6.5 million people each year worldwide while all forms of pollution cost the global economy an annual $4.6 trillion. Air pollution shortens the life expectancy of people in the city by 6.3 years and only one in 10 people live in a city that complies with World Health Organization's air quality norms. 

A year or two ago, the key parameters that a homebuyer looked at to make a purchase decision included the price, the connectivity, the location and the property. However, there is a new addition to the list – pollution levels in the locality.

Ankur Dhawan, Chief Investment Officer, PropTiger.com says, “Until recently pollution was not one of the prime criteria when selecting a property. However, with rising pollution levels becoming a regular phenomenon, homebuyers are now becoming sensitive about it. They are asking questions about pollution in a particular locality they want to invest in.”

The homebuyers are not yet able to make a decision keeping pollution as a key parameter. It is because the data available is not granular for each locality. However, at times when there will be enough pollution measuring stations, the numbers will help homebuyers to make a decision.

Why should developers worry?

Pollution has a direct impact on real estate. Recently, when the pollution reached 'hazardous' levels in the national capital region (NCR), the National Green Tribunal (NGT) ordered a ban on construction in the region for a few days. Bans like these, time and again, have an impact on the developers' business. Their delivery timelines get affected, having a rippling effect causing project delays.

Not just project delays, pollution can, going further, impact the property prices of a locality negatively. It is a given that once homebuyers make pollution levels an important aspect of their buying decision, they will prefer areas where pollution levels are low. “Property prices are an outcome of demand and supply. In case homebuyers move away from a locality with high pollution levels, the property prices of that locality will suffer as the demand falls,” says Dhawan.

Where are developers going wrong?

Many new localities are now being developed for dwelling. This means that there are a large number of infrastructural development occurring in these localities, making a perfect situation for rise in pollution due to dust. Moreover, while big developers are able to hire construction companies that use best-in-class construction techniques that do not burden the environment, the small developers are still stuck on traditional construction practices. These traditional practices impact the air quality adversely.

Developers themselves seem to be the prime reason why their business might suffer due to air pollution.

What can developers do?

In times when construction is at its peak all across the country, the construction ban could be a hindrance in achieving the goal of housing for all by 2022. In order to lower the impact of construction on the environment, the government recently introduced 16 new-age technology. Some of them include precast and prefab. “A construction site will always have high levels of PM10 coming from materials such as cement, wood and others. So, it becomes imperative for a developer to keep the area covered with tarpaulin,” says Dhawan.

“The idea of these practices is to reduce construction cost as well as pollution caused due to construction,” he adds.