Credai Bengal, the umbrella body of developers in Calcutta, will soon have company.

An effort is on to form an “association of small builders” in the city to try and bring in “better regulation and quality control” in the lower end of the brick-and-mortar spectrum.

“The association will help small builders sort out their problems in procuring land and finance and provide technical and marketing assistance so that they can streamline their businesses,” A.N. Shroff, prime mover and chairman of the Diamond Group, tells Metro.

The association, starting with “a strict code of conduct” and 20-odd members, has a three-pronged agenda — to see that customers get a fair deal, create low-cost housing and ensure quality in the building material used, both in the residential and commercial segments.

“Through this organisation, we will have an identity and a voice and hope to represent the requirement of the low-income group (LIG), a segment big developers often tend to neglect,” says R.N. Mukherjee, a city-based builder, who has decided to become a member of the new body.

News of a nascent association has evoked mixed reactions from Credai Bengal. “As the industry grows, there might be room for more associations,” points out Credai Bengal president Pradip Sureka.

Dilip Singh Mehta, founder-president of the erstwhile City Developers’ Forum (CDF), which later became the state chapter of the national apex body, feels another builders’ body is a “good idea”, as long as it doesn’t act at cross-purposes with Credai.

Shroff, who has himself been at the helm of CDF, promises the new association would complement Credai in its functioning. “The small builders’ association will not have any agenda which competes with, contravenes or offends the principles and working of a national body like Credai,” he says.