Crying foul over spiralling price, builders body seeks to keep check on cement firms

“In Tamil Nadu, 50 per cent of the construction activities have been stopped due to the irrational increase in the cement prices. Ordinary portland cement (OPC) was sold for Rs 250 per bag only 10 days ago. However, the prices escalated to Rs 340 to 360 per bag according to the brand,” alleged R Radhakrishnan, former national president of the association, on Tuesday.

He added that the cost of portland pozzolana cement (PPC), too, has gone up. “The manufacturers have stopped supplying OPC, which would take only 5 to 6 days to set in, whereas PPC will take 20 to 25 days to set,” he said.

Explaining how the sudden surge of cement price affects the affordable housing sector, Radhakrishnan said, “To build a 500 sq ft house, we need at least 1,000 bags of cement. As the cement price has risen by Rs 100 per bag, a middle-class home builder must spend an additional Rs 1 lakh to complete the construction.”

“Even though there is no surge in the prices of raw materials, transportation or other costs in recent times, the manufacturers are increasing the prices. As per statistics, producing a bag of cement will cost only Rs 145, including taxes,” he pointed out. Hence, the association has demanded the government to form a regulatory body on the lines of Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) to keep a check on the cement manufacturers.

Citing the lack of supply of low-cost Amma Cement, a brand owned by the state government, Radhakrishnan alleged that the government has completely stopped the supply.

S Ayyanathan, State chairman of the association, said the price of cement has risen steeply, and pointed out that the housing and real estate industry consumed about 65 to 67 per cent of cement production followed by the infrastructure sector at 18 to 20 per cent.