ROOF RIGHTS: The crowd at the penultimate day of the five-day Property Fair 2007. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

The production rate of housing stock is a mere 25 per cent of the real-time demand, feels the state government, calling for a concerted effort to bridge the gulf, despite the recent spurt in real estate activity in town.

“To cope with the demand surge, nearly 100,000 dwelling units must be added every year, for the next 15 years, only in the Calcutta Metropolitan Area. But only around 25,000 new stocks are being created every year,” the state housing and public health engineering minister, Goutam Deb, said on Monday.

Deb was speaking at the closing ceremony of the five-day Property Fair 2007 at the Netaji Indoor Stadium, organised by the state chapter of Credai, the apex body of developers, in association with The Telegraph. The realty exposition showcased over 150 housing projects, IT parks and commercial buildings coming up in and around town, collectively worth nearly Rs 10,000 crore.

The housing minister underlined the need to address the challenges of rapid urbanisation and urged city developers to cater to the middle class and economically weaker sections. “More than 70 per cent of the demand for housing is in the LIG and MIG segments, and besides the cross-subsidy model already in place, we are also looking at a sponsored sector to encourage more housing for the poor,” Deb declared.

The minister’s message was similar to the one from demographers — that nearly 15 crore people will be moving in to urban centres in the next 10-15 years and the government must continue to regulate prices at lower levels to ensure maximum benefit for the masses.

While Credai officials agreed the weather played spoilsport on the first two days of the fair, the weekend made up for it, throwing up a combined footfall of over 10,000. “What’s more important, the visitors were much more focused this time, which led to concrete responses,” said Pradeep Sureka, the president of Credai Bengal. HDFC reported 100-odd enquiries, and demand was maximum in the Rs 22-35 lakh bracket.

“We see this fair as a potent B2C platform to satisfy the needs of different groups of buyers, who get to evaluate a clutch of projects under one roof and can make an informed choice,” said Rahul Saraf, the vice-president of Credai Bengal. He also promised the developers’ forum would partner with the government “in every sphere” to meet housing shortages. The stalls of Siddha, Shrachi and Bengal Shelter were declared “stars of the show” and awarded mementoes.