Hyderabad, Aug 21 (IANS): Telangana's Industries and Information Technology Minister K.T. Rama Rao on Friday said that post-Covid-19, there is an immense opportunity for the state to attract investments from other parts of the world, and the infrastructure development and construction sector would play a major role in it.

Delivering the inaugural address at the Confederation of Indian Industry's virtual conference on "Telangana's real estate & infra prospects in the Covid world - To rise up the new normal", KTR, as he is popularly known, said: "These are challenging times, we should remember that adversity opens up new opportunities."

KTR, who is also the minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development, expressed the confidence that the Hyderabad real estate market will bounce back soon. He said that the city's fundamentals are very strong and opined that innovation is the way forward for the sector. He urged the real estate industry leaders to try and bring innovations to make housing affordable.

The minister said that urbanisation is increasing at an unprecedented rate and to cater to the demands of this increasing urban population, there is a need to extend avenues of development beyond the existing hubs and promote an integrated regional planning approach which helps pave the way for new cities and regions to emerge and develop.

He stated that the government will soon introduce the integrated township policy to spread development and distribute growth across the cities.

He pointed out that the government recently approved TS-bPASS (Telangana State Building Approval and Self Certification System), providing hassle-free online building permissions within 21 days for properties above 600 sq yards and above 10 metres, and all non-residential buildings and layouts.

He advised the real estate industry to work with skilling agencies like the National Academy of Construction to ensure more number of local youth are hired in this sector.