Challenges In Construction Sector

The construction industry is the second largest industry of the country after agriculture. It makes a significant contribution to the national economy and provides employment to large number of people. The use of various new technologies and deployment of project management strategies has made it possible to undertake projects of mega scale. In its path of advancement, the industry has to overcome a number of challenges. However, the industry is still faced with some major challenges, including housing, disaster resistant construction, water management and mass transportation.

Lack of Transparency

Construction sector is known for its lack of transparency. Anyone who wish to construct a house-fears for felling in trap of being cheated. Construction sector being mostly unorganized, there exists no proper system for pricing with builders charging customers with unfair prices without any rationale. Also, there exists huge price gap between initial estimated cost and the final actual amount.

Lack of Digitisation

Construction sector is largely run by contractors who relies on one-to-one meetings and do not use digital medium. This created digital and knowledge gap among contractors. Also, there is loss of potential clients in terms that the customers who lives at different location from their plot has no means to connect to the builders for construction

Lack of Client Satisfaction

Client satisfaction is the end product of any business. But the construction sector faces trust deficit by customers on builders. This is mainly because the builders do not deliver what they promise in terms of quality, time and money. Also, there is no involvement of the stakeholders during the construction of project. Neither there is proper information system about the progress of the projects. So, there is a need of clarity and customer awareness by trust building and timely delivery of projects.

Sub-optimal Material

Material selection plays a key role in determining the strength of buildings and also its longevity. But this in India is mostly left on the mercy of builders. Builders in turn use sub-optimal material to lower the cost of construction and increase their profit. Compromising with the material leads to poor construction of building and cracks and leakages at early stages. This ultimately leads to unsatisfied customers who feel cheated even after spending huge amount of money.

Delays in Construction

Delays in construction and delivery of buildings is a major failure of Indian construction industry. This leads to escalation in cost as well as dissatisfied customers. The delays maybe due to various reasons including lack of funds expenditure, labor delays, lack of mechanization or government approval delays. But ultimately this leads to extension in delivery time. Also, the customer is not able to track the progress of completion of buildings on regular basis and remains in dark about the construction time.

Reduced Investment in The Real Estate Sector

The impact of the pandemic has severely crippled the Indian economy. There have been several job losses and a reduction in wages. Consumers of the real estate sector are hesitant to invest in construction projects. The number of buyers has reduced considerably. Besides the need for commercial buildings has lessened due to the “work from home” policies enforced by the majority of the companies and firms.

Environment Preservation

A mandatory aspect of any construction project is to ensure the preservation of the surrounding environment. In India, it is tough to maintain soil erosion and degradation. The reason being mainly floods, droughts, soil alkalinity, aridity, and salinity. Besides air and water pollution levels are still not within controllable limits in the country. Urbanization in major cities has decreased the soil quality, impacting the environment.

Effect Of Natural Disasters

Natural disasters and hazards are unpredictable and uncertain in the climatic conditions of India. Hence site selection is an important factor in construction projects. Even if sites are in close proximity of raw materials the fact that they are located on a flood prone or earthquake prone areas, reduces the chances of being shortlisted for construction. Moreover, buildings need to be planned, designed, and constructed in such a manner enabling tolerance of natural disasters. Cumulatively this increases the expenses and costs of the constructions.

Skilled Manpower

The availability of skilled manpower at different stages of construction is sometimes a concern. Especially during pandemic situations, the crisis rises leading to delay in the proposed deadline of the projects. Besides lack of training provided to the construction workers further hampers the timeline and quality of the constructions. Focused attention is needed to speed up the skills and knowledge level of the workers.

Need of Multiple Clearances

The completion of any construction demands multiple clearances from various designated authorities. Electricity, pollution control, environment preservation, land, services, and utilization, etc. are the various areas where clearances are mandatory. Even if the builders complete the construction work within the planned time-frame yet delay in obtaining the clearances may need to delay in handing over the projects to the buyers.

Conclusion

The above challenges have been impacting the progress of the construction industry in India. The need of the hour is to mitigate the challenges by introducing modernization and scaling up the labor force. In the years ahead, the construction industry in India has to overcome various challenges - be it with respect to housing, environment, transportation, power or natural hazards. Technocrats associated with the Indian construction industry need to employ innovative technologies and skilled project handling strategies to overcome these challenges. The gains of large investments in the mega-projects eventually will give it back to the construction industry itself in the form of better economy and improved work conditions.