By Sidhant Shekhar Jha
At Excelerate 3.0, hosted by NAREDCO NextGen Maharashtra, the theme of “Build Fast” sparked discussions on accelerating construction timelines without sacrificing quality. Rajan Bandelkar underscored the priority with his straightforward mantra: “Sales, sales, and more sales,” emphasising that speed and efficiency are essential to meeting market demands while maintaining high standards.
The gathering of industry leaders shared thoughts on managing existing problems and capitalising on growing opportunities to transform the construction landscape. On the day of the ceremony, it started with a special address by big developers like Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani and Rajan Bandelkar, Vice Chairman of NAREDCO National.
Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani, Chairman, NAREDCO National, “My view is that we should actually put all the buildings together, and in six months we should have a 50-storey building. So I am sure that we will get the technology in the next couple of years because the volume of work that is taking place is really high. And I think we need that.”
Rajan Bandelkar, Vice Chairman, NAREDCO, National Special Address, “The moment the project is delayed, we have seen the majority of the companies getting wiped out. So I tell each and every time, as my friend Ashok (Mohnani) told me, execution, execution, execution. Of course, execution is there, but the basic mantra is—sales, sales, and sales—because sales alone are going to provide money. And the moment you get money, you can do everything; if you get money, everything happens.”
The esteemed panellists included Jay Goenka, Director of Dynamix Group; Gautam Bhasin, Regional Director for India at InHabit Group; Lalit Lahoty, Regional Head of Sobha Limited in Mumbai; Amit Barde, Head of Precast at L&T Constructions; Sashi Amin, and CEO of Cable Business Solutions at APAR Industries.
Jay Goenka, Director of Dynamix Group, “It said quality, speed, and cost; you can’t have all three. If you want a high-quality building at a low cost, it’s going to be slow. If you want a low-cost building of high quality, sorry, you can choose only two of the three. Now fundamentally, I think as developers, it’s our job to prioritise speed and quality.
Lalit Lahoty, Regional Head of Sobha Ltd., says, “The way we do the standardisation is what we call a backward integrated model, and by backward integrated model, I mean we have kind of put everything in-house. The first pillar is basically the design; right from design to delivery, everything has been consisting of architects, structural designers, and all the MVP design professionals.”
Excelerate 3.0 discussed implementing quality control, including new materials, and integrating new technologies into construction with industry leaders to raise the industry’s standards. This was done through high-standard observance and improvement to overcome current challenges in construction. Each of the panellists shared his/her experience with the others regarding the concerns over balancing quality and cost efficiency as well as speeding up the pace of projects, along with cases that may well illustrate how integrity in construction practice leads to robust buildings that can stand beyond the day that they are built.
