kolkata prominent developers in kolkata believe the state governments deep mistrust about the real estate sector has been assuaged by a realization that a section of the industry had evolved into corporate houses that shunned unscrupulous dealings that characterized the sector in the past there are visible signs of change in the governments perception of the real estate sector the most significant development was finance minister amit mitra announcing an urban policy that tries to boost the sector that is a forcemultiplier and leads to large employment said harsh patodia president of the bengal chapter of confederation of real estate developers association of india credaibengal an umbrella organization of builders patodia was referring to substantive changes in redevelopment rules for old and tenanted houses that mitra proposed recently these included sops by way of enhanced construction rights on such plots credaibengal members like vicepresident sushil mohta and former president pradeep sureka are convinced that such a policy announcement would not have been possible had chief minister mamata banerjee continued to harbour the misgivings that she had about the sector when she came to power the cms attitude towards the sector has changed that there were several developers in the business contingent to singapore reflects her realization that credai is a responsible organization true there have been occasions in the past when the industry was not organized and did not behave transparently or ethically but tremendous changes have happened in the past decade even smaller developers who have not changed their ways thus far will be forced to mend their ways soon to survive said sureka credai members term the change in attitude to the understanding that housing stock is important to keep pace with urbanization there is a realization that housing stock particularly for the low and middleincome group is a lot lower than demand there is also an understanding that development of the sector can spread wealth said mohta he believes sections of kolkata particularly the older north will change visibly in the next five years following the government initiative to redevelop old and tenanted properties at present much of north kolkata wears a moribund look with illmaintained crumbling properties locked in inheritance or tenancyrelated litigation though small and medium builders arent as enthused about the proposal until enabling changes are made in kmcs building rules prominent builders feel the governments newfound zeal after the singapore trip to transform kolkata into a modern 21st century city will see measures being taken to address such issues to take advantage of the government proposal to offer 100 increase in floor area ratio far in buildings that are over 50 years old and partly or fully occupied by tenants the current norms on height and mandatory open space require revision kolkata needs redevelopment the government proposals offer a window of opportunity for those who own tenanted properties there will be amalgamation of plots to enable larger developments in five years i expect significant changes in how the city looks merlin