Expert-Grup proposes measures to revitalize construction sector

If the state guarantees the initial contribution needed to build a house, the people will have increased access to mortgage, it is said in the study “Construction Sector. Fixing Terms for a Recovery” presented Wednesday by the independent analytical center Expert-Grup, Info-Prim Neo reports. Study author Adrian Lupusor analyzed the development of the construction sector during 2000-2007, when the demand for apartments was high. “The decline that followed and continues nowadays requires the immediate intervention of the state in remedying the situation and identifying a new model of activity in the construction sector, based on qualitative and balanced development,” Lupusor said. Among other proposals are the annulment of the VAT on housebuilding works for a period of two-three years, which would cost the state about 300 million a year, the initiation of infrastructure-related programs financed from the state budget and from foreign resources, stimulation of developers that started to collect additional funds from the population and created associations to finish buildings whose construction is close to an end, simplification of the procedure for issuing authorizations. These revitalization measures should be taken immediately, the authors say. In the medium term, Expert-Grup recommends that the state should purchase the buildings whose construction is far from being completed, invest money to finish the works and then distribute the apartments to vulnerable groups of people. In the longer term, there should be developed state mortgage programs for young families and other groups of people by implementing the private pension system and channeling the attracted financial resources into housebuilding. The study says that the volume of construction works from 2003 until 2007 had increased 6.3 times. The number of private construction companies rose 2.5 times, while of employees in the construction sector – from 44,000 to 76,000.