Ahmedabad, Apr 18 (PTI) Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Friday praised realtors' apex body CREDAI for focussing on sustainable development by constructing green buildings.

He also asked the real estate developers to walk on the path shown by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make India a developed country by 2047.

"We can work towards rainwater harvesting, increase green cover by planting more trees, launch campaigns for sanitation, and promote natural farming as propagated by the prime minister," the chief minister said at a CREDAI event held in Gandhinagar.

At the event, Shekhar G Patel took as the new President of realtors' apex body CREDAI, which represents more than 13,000 real estate developers from across the country.

Patel, the Managing Director of Ahmedabad-based real estate firm Ganesh Housing Corporation, has become the new president of CREDAI for the term 2025-27, the body said in a statement on Friday.

He succeeds Boman Irani, CMD of Mumbai-based listed firm Keystone Realtors Ltd.

Irani has now become CREDAI-National Chairman.

CREDAI also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and the Quality Council of India (QCI) to establish a collaborative framework for skill training, capacity building, and worker certification in the construction and real estate sector.

"Empowering the workforce with industry-relevant skills is paramount to enhancing productivity, improving quality and maintaining global standards. Through our collaboration with NSDC and QCI, we aim to create a robust ecosystem for talent development, ensuring that India's real estate sector remains competitive and future-ready," said Patel.

CREDAI, with the help of its state chapters, will plant 1 crore trees in the next three years on 10,000 acres of land. He said the drive will first cover the Arvalli mountain ranges in the north and the Western Ghat in the south, he added.

The new CREDAI president stressed that the cap of Rs 45 lakh on the affordable housing category be increased from Rs 45 lakh to Rs 75-80 lakh in the present scenario.

"The supply of affordable housing has not decreased. Units of 60 sq meters and 90 sq meters are still constructed but their prices have gone beyond the cap. CREDAI will run a campaign to redefine this cap. This will ease the burden on customers because they will pay only 1 per cent GST instead of 5 per cent if a unit falls under the affordable category" he said.

As per government standards set in 2017, a residential unit with a carpet area of 60 square metres in metros and 90 square meters in non-metros and a value below Rs 45 lakh falls under the category of 'affordable housing'.

Established in 1999, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) represents more than 13,000 developers across 230 city chapters in 21 states. PTI PJT MJH BAL BAL