Piyush Goyal urges Credai to assess construction's impact on air quality, prioritise affordable rental housing

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Monday urged the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (Credai) to form a team to evaluate the impact of construction activities on air quality as urban areas face increasing challenges from pollution. He also asked the organisation to prioritise affordable rental housing initiatives to eliminate the need for anyone to live in slums.

"The team should assess the impact on construction in the top 20 cities. Can we think of adopting better construction techniques? Through this, the entire ecosystem can significantly benefit, and the speed of construction will be much faster. So, you will be able to grow your capital and will be able to grow your business," Goyal said at the 25th foundation day of Credai.

"This should be done voluntarily because it's much easier to have all of the stakeholders participating rather than the government mandating these kinds of steps. But I do believe this can help us reduce the AQI (air quality index) levels, and I would urge Credai to take this up as a mission and report back to us," he said.


"We also had significant discussions about affordable rental housing, another area where the government is also willing to come forward. How can we make affordable rental houses going forward and make sure that nobody ever has to live in a slum?" Goyal said.