mangalore the desert storm in the form of nitaqatprogramme has affected the construction industry here which is currently implementing projects that is far in excess of demand but as a counter balance the rupee depreciation may offer some relief to the industry as investment in real estate has become lucrative for nris saudi arabias nitaqat law designed to localize labour has been giving jitters to expatriates but back here in this coastal city the same law is giving the heebiejeebies to the construction industry as expatriates from the middle east are its largest clientele be it investment or buying explains db mehta vice president mangalore chapter of confederation of real estate developers associations of india credai and md allegro ventures majority of expatriates from saudi are buyers of budget apartments two bhk and three bhk units which are in the rs 20 lakh and rs 30 lakh price bracket that market is almost stagnant after this crisis mehta says while gulf dominates the local construction industry with 50 business of which onethird is share of saudi the rest is shared by local and outside markets from mumbai chennai and bangalore as of now around 12000 dwelling units are under various stages of construction adding to the nitaqat problem is the looming prospect of excess supply pushparaj jain president credai says of the 380 projects launched recently at least 200 are still up and running which is actually in excess of market demand jain md abhish builders says that he has consciously not gone ahead with a couple of projects looking at the slow down former credai president pma razak discounts nitaqat theory things were down in real estate industry three months back but is looking up now nitaqat is affecting illegal employees only our buyers are regular employees he avers mehta says things will improve once there is clarity on this issue when the threemonth grace period ends on july 3 after this date all those expatriates found in saudi arabia without valid papers will face penal or punitive action