Rising cost of materials: house construction, a real headache

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Crazy, it’s not easy! I do not know what to do !” Jocelyn Moka, a young man in his thirties, is building his house on the second floor of a family property in Grand-Baie. “Everything has become expensive!” He notes. The Bureau of Statistics agrees. In a report released on Friday, it emerged that the construction price index, which was 108.5 in March 2021, rose to 112.4 last June. By comparison, in July 2020, it was at 106.1 while in July 2019, the construction price index was at 102.6.

Also according to this report, rising prices of various materials, including cement, rectangular tube bars, tiles and aluminum openings are the main causes of this change in the construction price index. Jocelyn Moka knows something about it. “When I started construction at the beginning of this year, I was paying a 25 kg pouch at Rs 140. Now it is Rs 149. An iron bar, which was at Rs 900 per unit is sold at Rs 1,100. Even rocksand is much more expensive, ”he says. In addition, the young man had already paid a contractor for aluminum openings. “We had agreed on a price, but a week later it came back to me with proof that the materials had become more expensive. I had to pay an additional Rs 10,000. How do you think a young person will be able to have a house? ”He asks himself.

This man’s project has reached the level of plastering. The rest of his savings were used to buy the rocksand, but he had to put the work on hold for lack of funds.

Jocelyn Moka is not the only one in this situation. The rise in prices could push masons into technical unemployment and, in turn, impact growth. Vinay Greedharee, a bricklayer for 18 years, says many projects have been abandoned. “Fortunately, I am already on a construction site because I have other clients who have put their projects on hold. I know other masons who are going through the same situation. The rise in the price of materials is the cause, ”said this mason.

The budget prepared by his clients, he said, was seriously out of balance with the price increase. Others, the mason says, haven’t had extra money from the banks to complete their homes. “Since last year, we have seen a slowdown in construction, but since February of this year, very few clients come to us. It is mainly wealthy people who build, but not the middle class, ”says Vinay Greedharee.

Note that the last increase in the price of cement dates back to the end of May and the beginning of June. The country’s two suppliers, La Farge (Mauritius) and Kolos Cement, had increased the price of their product by Rs 8 practically at the same time. The rise in the cost of freight, the suppliers explained, was the main cause of the increase

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