For real estate companies, Ahmedabad has turned out to be a proverbial goose that lays the golden eggs. Property prices across the city have doubled since 2010. While Godrej Properties, which got a major chunk of its revenue in the last quarter from just one project here, is reaping the benefits of being the first-mover among the real-estate bigwigs, others like the Hiranandanis, the Ajmeras, the Tatas and the Adanis too have established their bases in Ahmedabad over the last couple of years.

The reasons are not far to seek. Real-estate experts believe the influx of industries in the nearby town of Sanand (located 40 kms from Ahmedabad) has been responsible for this spike. Apart from auto companies Tata Motors, Ford and Peugeot, the town has multinational companies like Bosch, Hitachi Hi-Rel Electronics, Colgate Palmolive, Hyundai Transformers and AIA Engineering buying land for their respective businesses.

“Ahmedabad has become high-priority for national developers because of its growth. In the last two years, there has been almost a two-fold rise in real estate prices. To put it simply, a flat that used to cost Rs 63 lakh in a prime location in the city, is now priced at Rs 1.2 crore. No other city in the country has seen such a steep growth,” says Nirav Kothary, regional director of a global property consulting firm, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). Godrej which sold flats at Rs 2,450 per square feet in March 2010, is now offering similar flats at a basic price of Rs 3,300 per square feet.

Excluding the three townships currently being constructed, around 16,000 apartments are being developed in Gujarat. As far as commercial properties supply is concerned, nearly 6 to 8 million square feet is under construction. This supply is expected to be delivered in next 2-3 years.

In the last three years, approximately 30,000 residential units and 10 million square feet of commercial (including retail) were made available in Ahmedabad. “Gujarat as a state has been growing rapidly over the past decade and Ahmedabad’s real estate sector is one of the key beneficiaries of this growth. Ahmedabad has been one of the best performing markets of the 12 cities in which Godrej Properties has a presence,” Pirojsha Godrej, the new managing director of the company told The Indian Express after the company’s third quarter results.

Gujarat’s state domestic product has been clocking double digit growth since the last few years. According to the data published in the socio-economic review for the state, Gujarat has clocked a 211 per cent growth during the six years between 2004-05 and 2009-10. This is almost at par with states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

According to data provided by global property consulting firm, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), the residential real-estate prices in some of suburban locations of Ahmedabad now stand higher in the suburbs of larger cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune. For instance, apartments in Whitefield (Rs 3,250 per sq.ft.) and Mysore Road (2,450 per sq. ft.) in suburban Bengaluru are cheaper than those on Sardar Patel Ring Road where prices are as high as Rs 3,500 per square feet.

Even when prices are at an all-time high, developers in Ahmedabad foresee another round of price hike in the coming months. The commissioning of large automobile projects like Ford, Peugeot and Maruti Suzuki in the coming years will drive this increase, say experts.

Mumbai-based Ajmera Group, which is currently constructing a luxury residential project in partnership with a local developer in the western part of the city, predicts a 12 per cent rise in prices in the coming days. “Rising job opportunities, growing income levels and increased migration are reasons why Ahmedabad stood strong (in the past) and will continue to be stronger for the next few years. Though a correction is expected, it will not touch matured locations,” says Dhaval Ajmera, director, Ajmera Realty & Infra India. Source>>>

The State Bank of India alone bid for 19 plots while Punjab & Sind Bank opted for five. Bankers attributed the same to the “exorbitant rates” of the Authority’s new scheme and the cumbersome construction work that will have to take up on these plots to accommodate the displaced branches.

“Besides the high land cost of Rs 3-4 crore for each plot, the banks will have to put in at least another crore for construction that will also be time consuming. Adding to expenses would be the annual lease rent of Rs 10 lakh that the banks will then have to pay to the Authority for the next 11 years,” said Lead District Manager, Arun Kumar of Syndicate Bank. “All this money is required for just one branch. It is not wise to invest so much money on this and, hence, many banks have decided to look for space in existing commercial areas,” he added. Bankers say that until the SC order, they had been paying between Rs 70,000 and Rs. 80,000 per month as rent in residential areas.

The displaced banks who did not opt for the Authority’s new scheme are now trying to rent vacant space in the earmarked commercial pockets close to residential areas. “A lot of commercial plots have vacant or underutilized space. The challenge for us now is to find a suitable, large enough spot to shift our operations within the six week period given to us by the court,” said a Karur Vyasa Bank official.

Many banks are also contemplating shifting their operations to vacant plots in urban villages where the Authority permits commercial activity in 50 per cent of the total area. Besides being close to residential sectors, these areas offer vacant space at comparatively cheaper rates.   Source>>>

Noida: A temporary relief was given to more than one lakh bank customers on Friday morning as the Noida Authority officials de-sealed the eleven properties,including eight banks,it had sealed on February 1.The de-sealing was done at sector 19 following a Supreme Court order which stayed the sealing process for six weeks effective January 23. Authority officials said that if,by then,all illegal banks have not moved out of the residential plots, it will resume sealing from March 5.
Even as banks say that six weeks are not enough to shift their premises, the Authority has warned of putting an end to all unauthorized commercial establishments operating out of non-conforming areas. Allottees have also been warned to get their premises vacated and bring them to the defined land-use or face cancellation of their lease deeds.
The Authority is,however,yettodecideon sealing other illegal commercial establishments running from residential, industrial and institutional areas or give them the six-week breather. Wehave not yet received a certified copy of the SC order of February 2. On receipt, our legal counsel will go through it in detail to chart out our next step, said Capt SK Dwivedi,CEO of Noida Authority. We need to figure out if the order applies only to banks or to all commercial establishments. Till then, all sealing activity will remain suspended, he added.
The sealing drive,even though it lasted just a day, created ripples among thecity residents. It is estimated that cash worth Rs 20 crore was stuck in the chests of the sealed banks and as many as 5,000 cheques remainedunprocessed.Uncertainty and apprehension about the fate of their bank accounts andlockershad residentsup in armseven astheseveralsealed banks tried their best to assuage their fears.
According to estimates,once the sealing drive resumes,it will affect nearly 12 lakhbank accountholders and 90,000 locker holders of 104 banks running from non-conforming premises.The drive will also affect more than 50,000 nursing homes,250 showrooms and thousands of other units across the city.With the Authority remaining uncertain about their stance on dealing with the scores of other unauthorized units,many such establishments are wondering about their next move.
I have no place to shift the children from my playschool, said Namita Bagla of Shemrock in sector 19,which was sealed by the Authority and then de-sealed.It is too expensive to move to commercial areas in Noida and also inconvenient for parents to send their young children to far off schools, she added.  Source>>>

“We have got complaints against illegal floors in EWS flats and we have asked the STP and DTP (enforcement) to take action and we have sought action taken report as well,” Meena said.

It is worth noticing that over three thousand EWS free-hold plots were allotted at DLF-III by the realty developer and the town planning department had sanctioned only two and half floors on each plot.

“Against the sanctioned permission, people have added extra floors,” said J Kapoor, a resident of DLF Phase-III, adding flats up to five and six floors can be seen in the area.

Not only residents, who are directly affected due to extra floors and population growth, the DLF management too has lodged official complaints with the Gurgaon administration.

“It is administration’s responsibility to take action against illegal or extra floors and floor owners,” said a DLF management official, on condition anonymity.  Source>>>

The projects include the commercial tower-cum-parking lot that is being jointly developed by Reliance Industries and Wadhwa developers at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) and the central library and residential project by Indiabulls group at Kalina. Noting that the developers in both cases have “initiated the construction work without obtaining the prior environmental clearance (EC)”, the SEAC has directed the state environment department to look in to the “violation and take necessary action”.

While officials were unwilling to be quoted due to the ongoing election code of conduct, a senior government official said that any project that is being carried out without an EC will be immediately issued a notice under section 5 of the Environment Protection Act and can be directed to stop work until further orders.

The BKC project is coming up on a 2.5 acre land (C 66) that Reliance Industries purchased during an auction from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) in 2007. Using an FSI of over 8, the company along with Wadhwa developers will be developing a 20 floor commercial building with four floors of parking at an estimated cost of Rs 1,581 crore.

The Indiabulls project is proposed over a four acre plot within the Kalina University campus. The project was dogged by controversy as the land was originally transferred by Mumbai University to the state government on the condition that the latter would build a public library on the entire plot. Questions were raised about the decision of the state Public Works Department under minister Chhagan Bhujbal to call for bids and hand over half the plot to a developer. Indiabulls will be constructing a 13 storey high-end residential project in exchange of building a six storey library on the other half. The company has started work on leveling the site.

Environment experts point out that the EC is granted based on the comprehensive mitigating measures proposed by developers. They state that projects over 20,000 sq m have to get a prior environment clearance even before carrying out the basic ground preparation work.

When contacted by Newsline, Indiabulls refused to comment on the issue.

A spokesperson for Wadhwa group said, “We have permissions to construct till plinth from MMRDA. As per EC norms, we can construct up to 20,000 m at this stage. We are well within this limit.” The spokesperson added that the company has been following up with the authorities for EC since the last fifteen months.  Source>>>

A bench of justice Swatanter Kumar and justice Ranjana Prakash Desai granted six weeks to the Noida Authority CEO to provide alternative sites to the banks, which, in compliance with the court’s earlier directive, had stopped operating from residential areas.

The authority will Friday deseal the eight bank branches that it shut down on Wednesday.

The Noida authority will on Friday deseal eight banks that were closed down on Wednesday for operating out of residential premises.

It has also suspended its sealing drive against commercial establishments running in non-commercial areas such as residential and industrial till March 5.

By then, all `illegal’ banks need to move out as the authority will resume sealing such properties if they are not shut and shifted from March 6. This spells some relief for about 12 lakh customers and 90,000 locker-holders of 104 banks running in non-commercial premises.

Noida authority’s CEO SK Dwivedi said, “Our sealing drive was justified according to the court’s December 5 order which allowed us to seal premises if shifting is not done in two months. On January 23, the court gave six weeks’ time for the banks to shift. But since banks did not stop operations, we went ahead with our sealing drive.“

The CEO said the court on Thursday gave six weeks from January 23 for the banks to shift.

“Those who get plots, can approach the court again and seek time for construction. Our concern is to seal all banks in residential areas once the sixweek deadline ends,“ he added.

The order to deseal banks has given relief to about one lakh customers of the eight banks sealed on Wednesday.

It is estimated that cash worth R20 crore was stuck in the chests of these banks. As many as 5,000 cheques were also said to be stuck.

For example, Indian Bank has 7,000 customers. It also has 1,500 lockers. On Tuesday and Wednesday, 500 cheques were deposited at the branch. Bank of Maharashtra has three branches in Noida. One was sealed on Wednesday. The other two are also in residential areas and they also faced the threat of sealing.
The bank has 35,000 customers.
They would have all had to go to either Ghaziabad or Delhi. Similarly, Vijaya Bank has 4,000 customers and 400 lockers.

When asked if six weeks were enough for banks to get plots and complete construction of new buildings, Dwivedi said, “We have announced a scheme of commercial plots for all 104 affected banks. Those who get plots can approach the court again and seek time for construction. Our concern is to seal all residential area banks once the six-week deadline ends.“  Source>>>

New Delhi: Around 450 people are yet to get possession of Commonwealth Games Village flats with the DDA refusing to regularize construction over and above the sanctioned plan without the Centres approval.
The dispute revolves around the compoundable limit of the constructed area of 2.27 lakh square metre in the Games village.
To organize the Games,DDA had given 1,10,000 sq metre land to Emaar MGF to build a Games Village to accommodate sportspersons.
According to the master plan,2,20,000 sqm area could be constructed as the floor area ratio (FAR) is two.
This apart,5% of the permissible area could be constructed.This can be regularized after paying a fine of Rs 100 per sq metre.That means 2,31,000 sq metre could have been constructed.Therefore,a total constructed area of 2,27,071.72 sq metre by Emaar MGF is well within the limit of regularization.
But sources said DDA in its reply to the ministry of urban development on January 24,argued that in the bid document,the total permitted area for construction was only 2,01,280 sq metre.
The figure was arrived at following a relaxation granted by the central government on the density of dwelling units and carpet area requirements with the condition that DDA would undertake construction of 1,100 units for economic weaker section (EWS).
As the permissible area to be constructed was fixed after the relaxation granted by the Centre,DDA,in a reply to the ministry,argued it cannot give any relaxation without the ministrys approval.
In the sanction plan,DDA allowed construction of 2,05,140 sq metre as against a permitted area of only 2,01,280 sq metre in the bid document.
In its letter dated June 12,2008,the executive engineer,who was the project in-charge and controlled the overall supervision,said,The FAR mentioned in the bid document is 2,01,280 sq metre,whereas FAR expected to be achieved is more than this.
The amount to be deposited by EMAAR MGF for this excess FAR will be calculated at the rate of 15,948 per sq metre. This clearly suggested that earlier DDA was of the opinion that FAR norms will be governed by the rules of Master Plan 2021.This provision is part of the revised bid document.
The high court has directed the urban development ministry to convene a meeting on or before February 10 of senior officials of DDA and Emaar MGF for thrashing out the issue and take a decision on giving completion certificate for the buyers to get possession of the apartments.
The court has also asked the ministry to request the group of ministers (GOM),headed by defence minister AK Antony,looking into the CWG village related issues to expedite the process.The decision taken by the GOM should also be placed on record,it said.  Source>>>

Delhi chief secretary PK Tripathi said the government had asked the MCD to hand over all such roads to the PWD within a month.

“The process of taking over these roads has started. We had recently written a letter to the MCD commissioner to hand over all such roads to us by February end,“ Tripathi said.

Of the 27,000 kilometres of road network the MCD maintains, about 10% are arterial roads of 60 feet or more. The Delhi Cabinet had decided to take over these roads in December last year.

According to Delhi government officials, a number of complaints about the poor upkeep of MCD roads forced them to take such a decision.

“Most of these roads are in a bad state and full of potholes, making it difficult for motorists.
We decided to take urban roads under our jurisdiction so that they can be maintained properly,“ said a senior Delhi government official.

Cutting across party line, a large number of MLAs ­ especially from assembly segments in outer Delhi ­ had raised the issue of poor maintenance of connecting roads in the city.

The MLAs had also complained that the MCD often diverted money given for the maintenance of roads by the urban development department.

The government had then brought a resolution in the house to take over all the arterial roads that were being maintained by the MCD and spend R 120 crore –­ which is given to the civic agency for infrastructure maintenance -for the upkeep of these roads.  Source>>>

The process of taking over these roads has started. We had written to the MCD commissioner to hand over all such roads to us by February end

PKTRIPATHI Chief Secretary