kochi construction sector in kerala will have to embrace sustainable solutions keeping the states environment in mind experts have opined the realty sector which is slowly getting back to its feet after demonetization and introduction of real estate regulation and development act rera will need innovations and new technologies to grow they saidin the state conference of the twoday kerala chapter of confederation of real estate developers association of india credai which concluded in kochi on saturday it has been pointed out that kerala needs a sociallycommitted and sustainable model of construction the conference emphasised the need to bring in more expertise to construct homes that can resist and survive landslides and other natural calamitiescongress mp shashi tharoor said the state government and other agencies could use the expertise of organizations like credai for such initiatives adding that there was a need to explore sustainable building ideas innovations and new technology it was pointed out that there lies a better opportunity to rectify flaws while redesigning kerala implementation of microarea planning at construction sites is expected to ensure environment conservationaddressing the valedictory function elias george chairman igh kpmg said constructions activities were yet to start taking into consideration nature and future generation he said the state needs to adopt the nilgiri model for environment protection and illegal constructions and plastic must be avoidedkerala must explore new technologies like asset recycling privatepublic partnership can be implemented in infrastructure and development he saidjaxay shah national president credai said sales in the real estate market in the country picked up by 40 in the first three quarters of 2018 though the prices remained flat he said the sector had come through the crisis following the implementation of demonetization and rerathe centres focus on affordable housing has given the sector a new lease of life he said and pointed out there was a lack of awareness on subsidy schemes provided by the centre for affordable housing sector in states like kerala you can get a subsidy of rs 26 lakh for 2000 sq ft area it can go up to rs 6 lakh depending on the size he saidhe said the main stumbling block faced by the sector was the tax rates the goods and services tax and stamp duty together come to 20 which is a huge burden earlier the rates were below 5 shaw said credai had taken up the matter with the governmentasserting the need to promote affordable housing which was the key to growth of the sector tharoor also said that there was a huge need for affordable homes in kerala the state government must coordinate with the organizations in the construction sector in developing such affordable homes for the needy ramesh nair ceo and country head jll india a real estate development advisory firm said the pickup in the sales at national level has not reflected in kerala as the construction cost was higher compared with other states the cost is rs 2750 per sq ft in kerala compared