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KSHB back with project proposals

September 19th, 2009

The government is on an offensive to end the slackness in the housing and real estate sectors by launching projects at a time when private builders seem to think twice before doing so.

Taking a cue from what the housing boards in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and a number of other States have done, the Kerala State Housing Board has planned to take the private-public partnership route to wipe away its liability.

In fact, one of the prime projects at Marine Drive will help the board come out of the red, believes Noel Thomas, Housing Commissioner and Secretary of the board. In a month, consultants will be selected for giving a detailed project report on the Marine Drive plan. The board, which has about 18 acres of land at the Marine Drive, plans to have a tourism, commercial and housing project.

Hotels, office space, convention centre and multiplexes are some of the ideas that have come up. A preliminary study by the board has pointed out that 17 lakh sq.ft of built-up space can be made available.

Since there are environmental concerns, the government held several rounds of discussion before agreeing to the project, Mr. Thomas said.

With an eye on the upcoming LNG terminal at Vallarpadam, the board has conceptualised the space here with a futuristic design, Mr. Thomas said. The prime project will be launched early next year and the full project is likely to be completed by three years, he said.

The housing projects of the board in at least four other places in Ernakulam district are expected to add to the signs of revival that the sector is showing these days. “We believe a revival in the sector by the end of the current financial year,” Mr. Thomas said.

The board has planned to invite builders for the construction on a build-share-transfer basis. The bidders should have done a project of that level in the last three years. Such a criterion is to keep the less-experienced ones away.

The board has got into a financial crisis because of the large number of houses it has financed for the weaker sections who have not been able to remit their part of the payment,

Mr. Thomas said. Unlike the boards in other States, the KSHB has built 6 lakh houses. With a loan of Rs.2,000 crore from HUDCO over the past 35 years, the board has not been able to take up many projects. So far, the liability of Rs.1,500 crore is over and a new outlook with private partnership is expected to push the board on track again, Mr. Thomas said.

Since pricing of houses is most important in a downward looking market, the board intends to keep it affordable considering the market dynamics at the time. In Panampilly Nagar, there will be a 32-unit complex, while the project at Kumaran Asan Nagar will be a 36-unit one.

At Thrikkakara, where the board already has project in innovative housing for the working class, there will be yet another project for the middle and higher income groups that will have 60-65 units.

At Irimpanam, where the board has some prime roadside land on the side of the Seaport-Airport road, a multi-storey housing complex will have a basement and two floors of commercial area.

If these projects are implemented, the board is likely to give a lead to many building projects in the State that are, at present, either going slow or have come to a standstill.
News Published Under:  The Hindu

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Kerala golf course to open by December

September 12th, 2009

Kochi (Kerala): The first phase of a Rs.480 million golf course being built by the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) here would be complete by the end of this year, a senior company official said Friday.

“The golf course would open with nine holes by December this year. Building this would cost Rs.20 crore (Rs.200 million). The first phase would be ready by December and this would match any international golf course,” CIAL company secretary K. Venkitesweran said.

He said the state-of-the-art golf course will have 18 holes. “The golf course, situated on 130 acres, is coming up just next to the fourth largest airport that handles many international passengers in the country.”

Venkitesweran said 800 applications have been sold for Rs.10,000 each by now.

“By next month we expect to do the screening of the applications and allotment of membership would begin. We have an early bird offer where the membership fee has been fixed at Rs.200,000,” he said.

In July this year, CIAL announced a dividend of 10 percent, up from eight percent announced last year. The paid up capital of CIAL is Rs.300 crore.
News Published Under:  Manorama Online

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Posted in Cochin Real Estate, Infrastructure Development, Kerala Real Estate

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Kerala finds a place in NLRMP

September 12th, 2009

Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran says this is a signal that Kerala is moving in the right direction. He tells K.A. MARTIN that the first instalment of Rs.5 crore is welcome. 

Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran has welcomed the decision by the Department of Land Resources under the Union Ministry of Rural Development to put Kerala among the first four States to get Central funds for the ambitious National Land Records Modernisation Programme (NLRMP).

He told The Hindu on Friday that this was a signal that Kerala was moving in the right direction in modernising and computerising land records.

Mr. Rajendran said that Kerala would need more money to achieve the goal of total computerisation of land records and the first instalment of Rs.5 crore was welcome.

Along with Kerala, West Bengal, Meghalaya and Madhya Pradesh have been chosen for receiving the first instalment during the current financial year.

The NLRMP will help computerise the entire process of property transaction records and network revenue offices.

The Revenue Department had submitted a detailed project report under the NLRMP for 2009-10 at an estimated cost of Rs.6 crore. This was approved by the Planning Board and funds allotted in the State Budget.

Besides, a detailed project report for the work at an estimated cost of nearly Rs.30 crore was submitted to the Union government.

The Revenue Department is expected to complete data entry, revalidation and training of officials and networking of offices in a time-bound manner.

The department has selected Pathanamthitta, Kottayam and Alappuzha districts for the first phase of activities.

In the second phase of computerisation of land records, Kollam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad and Wayanad have been chosen.

The NLRMP emerged out of two Centrally sponsored schemes — computerisation of land records and strengthening of revenue administration and updating of land records.

The main aims of the NLRMP are to usher in a system of updated land records, automated and automatic mutation, integration between textual and spatial records, interconnectivity between revenue and registration offices and replacing the present deeds registration and presumptive title system with that of conclusive titling with title guarantee, says information posted on the Land Resources Department web site.

Committee

The Union government has constituted a committee on State agrarian relations and the unfinished task of land reforms in January 2008.

The basic belief behind launching the land records modernisation programme across the country is that effective management of agrarian relations and good land administration are key to economic development and poverty eradication.

News Published Under:  The Hindu

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Good times ahead for realty in Kozhikode city

August 22nd, 2009

The lull in the construction sector has disappeared. After a hiatus, the sector has picked up in a moderate way in Kozhikode city. The slowdown in the real estate sector has had its drastic impact on the construction sector for some time, leaving builders to face the music.

Now, property developers are in high spirits in the wake of the revival of the industry. New projects have taken off. Ongoing projects are getting ready for occupancy. Then, there has been an encouraging response to the three-day Calicut Property Show held at the Marine Grounds last week.

“Approximately 1,500 serious customers had registered for the event. The walk-ins were over 4,000. That is a good trend compared to other cities of the country,” says M.A. Mehaboob, secretary, Confederation of the Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) Kozhikode chapter.

Wide variety

Projects of 16 Kozhikode-based builders were on display at the show. Villas, apartments, studio homes, townships and commercial space were among them. The builders had also displayed their ongoing projects in Malappuram, Thalassery, Kannur and Kochi. Customers had been provided the option of booking an apartment or villa at the venue.

Most of them were genuine buyers keenly interested in investing in a project on a long-term basis. Short-term investment had been a temporary phenomenon. In fact, property transaction has been on between real buyers and sellers. The demand for housing in the city and its suburbs has not declined in the past two years, Mr. Mehaboob says.

Builders say that several mega information technology (IT) projects are being mooted in the city in the next few years. Some of them have also launched new projects. Infrastructure development is also going on at a fast pace. The flyover at the Arayadathupalam junction will be completed this year and the Malaparamba-Vengalam stretch of the Vengalam-Ramanattukara bypass will be ready in 2010. These two projects, once completed, will spur construction activities specifically related to the real estate sector on the bypass stretch.

New projects are expected on the beach, in the medical college area and around the civil station and Thondayad.

Already, builders at the State and national levels have evinced interest in launching housing projects in Kozhikode.

After all, the realty business last fiscal was not bad in the city in spite of the downturn in the industry. Business estimated at Rs.500 crore would have taken place in the housing sector in the city in the last financial year. The average annual business will be in the range of Rs.500 crore to Rs.600 crore. The big boom was during the 2006-07 period when the business crossed Rs.1,000 crore.

The rate of an apartment or villa is in the range of Rs 2,600-3,000 a sq.ft. Units have also been sold at Rs.2,400 a sq.ft. The rationalisation of prices in Kozhikode, unlike elsewhere in the country, has caught the attention of serious buyers.

“Kozhikode has not witnessed an artificial demand for housing. Buyers also respond positively to the offers,” says K.V. Haseeb Ahamed, State treasurer of CREDAI.

This recovery is good for the industry. The housing sector is going to witness a boom in the outer fringes of the city. Small towns will see greater development activities with the growth in urban population. Remittance from non-resident Indians (NRIs) will contribute to the growing income. Over 70 per cent of the construction sector in the city directly or indirectly involves the NRI segment.

Adequate funds

Mr. Ahamed says that the banking sector has been munificently helping the real estate sector.

There is no paucity of funds for builders. Loan applicants have increased in recent times.

Banks will be competing with one another to offer loans in the coming months.

Nationalised banks have proposed to offer home loans up to Rs.30 lakh at the rate of 8.5 per cent for the first three consecutive years. As of now, the State Bank of India has the steepest reduction in interest rate on home loans between Rs.30 lakh and Rs.50 lakh. The interest rate will remain 8 per cent for the first year. It will be 8.5 in the second year from 9.5 in the third.

If this trend continues, more banks will be forced to take a cue from the big players.

The draft Direct Tax Code released on Wednesday gives an indication that growth in several sectors, especially the housing industry, will get a stimulus.
News Published Under:  The Hindu

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Posted in Infrastructure Development, Kerala Real Estate

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The metro rail will ease traffic congestion that plagues Kochi now

July 24th, 2009

Cochin: As the prospects for metro rail in Kochi have brightened with the Planning Commission giving the green signal, people of the city want the work on the project to begin soon without further delay so that they can escape the traffic congestion being experienced now.

Their apprehensions on these issues are not unfounded, as many infrastructure projects have been in limbo in the city.

While the Delhi Metro Corporation has earned a good reputation for getting work done in record time, work in Kerala will be a different game altogether, believe some of the major builders.

Most builders have welcomed the green signal for the metro rail as the project is expected to provide a good momentum to the overall development of infrastructure. This, in turn, will provide a necessary recharge to the property outlook in the city, they say.

All the same, the work will pose difficulties to people if the government, in association with local bodies, does not develop some of the connecting roads to the arterial roads of Kochi to help ease the traffic flow.

While Sahodaran Ayyappan Road requires repair, parallel roads on either side need to be developed. Similarly, other roads to Thripunithura, entry from the Maradu side and the Vyttila-Kaniyampuzha roads need to be strengthened to lessen the traffic on the main road.

If the work on Pulleppady overbridge gets done, one of the major roads connecting the city to the highway will become open, lessening the traffic on the metro route that will ring the city from north to south.

The construction of metro rail will be a challenge as the size of the existing roads, already congested, will be further reduced. Hence, it is important that the government does the spadework to prepare for a bigger project such as the metro.
News Published Under: The Hindu

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Posted in Cochin Real Estate, Government, Infrastructure Development

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Meet to lay road map for Kerala’s infrastructure

July 22nd, 2009

KOCHI: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in partnership with the State government, is organising a one-day conference on ‘Infrastructure in the time of economic crisis’ on Thursday 23 in the city. This conference is to lay a roadmap for improving the infrastructure in Kerala.

The conference will focus on improving physical infrastructure — roads, metros, railways, mobility hubs, ports, city development, low cost housing, funding options overcoming implementation challenges, policy prescriptions to create a five-point infrastructure agenda, creating world-class urban infrastructure and achieving inclusive growth and need for innovation.

Experts from the infrastructure space at the national level will initiate a dialogue at the conference and throw light on the implementation elsewhere in the country.

The government of Kerala will also exhibit the plans and proposals for project implementation, which will subsequently be taken up for discussion for furtherance.

In India, 28 per cent or 285 million people live in urban areas.

This will go up to 40 per cent by 2021. According to the Planning Commission, India needs an investment of $500 billion in the infrastructure sector from 2007 to 2012.

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission envisages an investment of $20 billion in urban infrastructure by 2012.

The government of India has identified a public-private partnership approach as the cornerstone of its policy and has been actively encouraging foreign direct investment in India’s infrastructure sector.

 

News Published Under: The Hindu

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Longest railway bridge coming up in Kochi

July 20th, 2009

People in Kochi can take pride in their city having the longest railway brige in the country, cutting across an island over the Vembanad lake.

The 4.62 km Vallarpadam bridge will beat the current record for the longest rail bridge held by the Nehru Setu Bridge near Dehri on river Sone in Bihar by more than a kilometre.

The bridge that snakes its way over the lake is part of the nearly nine KM railway link being built for Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT).

The total cost of the Rail link for the Vallarpadam project, including the railway station and goods yard at Edappally near here was Rs 245.67 crore, but had shot up to Rs 297.10 crore due to escalation of steel prices, he said.

RVNL is a public sector unit under the Railway Ministry, created to implement large projects like the present one, he said. Just as ambitious a project as the railway bridge is the Vallarpadam transhipment terminal project that is expected to handle three million TEUs of containerised cargo a year once commissioned.

The terminal will be run by India Gateway Terminal Ltd., part of Dubai Ports World. A total of Rs 3,000 crore, spread over two phases, will be invested in the project, which will have a capacity to receive vessels upto 8,000 TEUs. 

News Published Under:   Malayala Manorama

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Masterplan for Kollam Technopark approved

July 18th, 2009

The Project Implementation Board of Technopark here has approved the master plan for the development of an IT park at Kollam, adopting the `hub and spoke’ model of development strategy of the government for the promotion of IT and ITES industry in the state.

Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram, the hub, will be developing Technopark, Kollam as its spoke,an official press release said. Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan launched the project in February this year at the site in Kundara near Kollam, where the government had already allotted a 40-acre plot along the banks of the Ashtamudi lake for the project.

The park would soon be notified as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and tenders had been called for infrastructure development works like 110 KV substation, internal roads and water supply schemes.

A modern sewage treatment plant is also part of the master plan. “Conceptual design for a modern IT building, measuring half a million sq ft, incorporating the green building concept has been approved.

News Published Under:   Malayala Manorama

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Hi-Tech Infra to invest Rs 600cr in Coimbatore SEZ

July 16th, 2009

Hi-Tech Infrastructure Private Limited, promoted by Coimbatore-based KG Information Systems Limited (KGISL), plans to invest around Rs 600 core over the next two years in building a township at a special economic zone (SEZ), the first SEZ for IT and ITeS sectors being developed at Saravanampally in Coimbatore. Speaking to Business Standard, KGISL managing director, Ashok Bakthavathsalam, said the company was developing the SEZ on 150 acre, of which 65 acre had already been allotted to Robert Bosch India, Cognizant and Perot Systems. Bosch is setting up a research and development centre in the SEZ with an investment of around Rs 250 crore.

Bakthavathsalam said the SEZ was expected to attract investments to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore and generate employment to about 15,000 people over the next two years. “KGISL alone will invest around Rs 600 crore in the SEZ, which will be funded through a mix of internal accruals and debt,” he said. The company is planning to set up a budget hotel, 400 affordable houses and a hospital to supplement the upcoming industries in the SEZ, he said, adding that the company is open to join hands with private partners to promote the township.
“The SEZ will also help other industries to grow in this region. For instance, Robert Bosch facility will not only create additional job opportunities in Coimbatore, but will also benefit the manufacturing sector in and around Coimbatore as Robert Bosch is looking for partners to bring complimentary strengths to what it does,” Bakthavathsalam. Coimbatore, he said, will be the right destination for IT and ITeS companies, which are currently passing through rough times. A business process outsourcing (BPO) company, which will operate out of Coimbatore, can save up to $200 per seat a month when compared to Delhi or other major metros.

“Moreover, there are about 40 engineering colleges and 80 arts colleges, which are producing about 150,000 students every year. Availability of human resources is the biggest advantage.The establishment of the SEZ will also benefit the adjoining villages with the creation of non-IT jobs,” he said.
News Published Under:   Special Economic Zones

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