Union Minister of Road, Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said that work for flyover projects in Pune estimated to cost Rs 55,000 crore will begin in two months. A highway from Nagpur to Pune that will cut travel time to 4–5 hours is also in the offing. The Minister was speaking at the 40th annual general meeting of CREDAI (Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India) in Pune on Friday. Emphasising focus on a circular economy, the Union Minister urged the real estate industry to cut costs by using cutting edge research and innovative technology to maintain commitment to ethics, economy and ecology. "I think there is some saturation in the real estate market. I don't think even 1% of our population can buy homes that cost more than Rs 10 lakh," the Union Minister said. "There are several ways of reducing construction costs. I urge organisations like CREDAI to engage with IITs and similar institutes which are developing innovative technologies to reduce costs." He also urged stalwarts of realty to turn their attention to villages, as Smart Villages are also in the pipeline. He asked real estate to diversify into building logistic parks, tourism, medical colleges and so on. Speaking at the event, District Guardian Minister of Pune, Chandrakant Patil, said that efforts are being made to increase ease of introducing new projects for developers. He urged real estate developers to increase the size of houses that are being allotted in Slum Rehabilitation Authority projects. Environmental concerns and the responsibility of real estate developers towards it were also brought up.
