According to Boston Analytics research firm, the country's real estate sector has seen increased supply and pace of construction activity which caused improvement in pessimism related to real estate price. Low rates of interest on home loans driven by Government's stimulus packages have also encouraged the Indian consumers to buy homes.

Shirin Bagga, Economist, Boston Analytics, said: "Increased supply, improvement in pessimism related to real estate prices, and low rates of interest on home loans seems to be encouraging Indian consumers to firm up their home purchase decisions".

The research firm collected data from a monthly survey targeting 10,000 respondents cross 15 Indian cities--Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Nagpur, Kochi, Jaipur, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, Patna, and Vishakhapatnam

The report said the sentiment related to pace of construction activity conveys more optimism with regards to observed change in construction activity in Tier II and Tier III cities relative to Tier I cities. "Additionally, the real estate projects which are in various stages of completion in Tier I, Tier II and Tier III cities and towns appear to be infusing optimism about the expected change in construction activity among respondents across Tiers," the report added.

As pointed out by the Economic Survey of 2009-10, the importance of the construction and real estate sector in creation of both physical and financial assets has been growing over the years. The construction sector now accounts for 8% of GDP at constant prices, up from 7.7% in 2004-05. Similarly, the share of real estate ownership of dwelling and business services in overall GDP as increased to 9.2% in 2008-09 from 8.9% in 2004-05.

There is relief in sight for the commuters who take the Outer Ring Road and get stuck in persistent traffic jams at Rao Tula Ram Marg crossing. In a bid to clear the mess at the Rao Tula Ram Marg flyover, the Delhi Traffic Police have reversed the flow of traffic on the single carriageway flyover. The flyover, which has currently been facilitating the movement of traffic from the airport to IIT/Nehru Place, will now be used for traffic going from IIT to airport side. The decision has come after The Pioneer reported the traffic mess created at the Outer Ring Road-RTR Marg T-junction due to construction of the single carriage flyover at the spot.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Satyendra Garg said the new traffic arrangement will be effective from March 21 (Monday). "The RTR Marg flyover had been meant for the traffic coming from the airport to Munirka side, but the traffic pattern recently has shown that the volume of traffic has been more towards airport side than the reverse one. Accordingly, the flow of traffic will be reversed on the flyover to facilitate the traffic movement towards airport," Garg said. He claimed that the new arrangement might ease the traffic congestion up to nearly 70 per cent.

According to Traffic cops, the new traffic arrangement would further benefit the motorists entering the city from the airport and NH-8, as it would allow free left turns to Benito Juarez Marg, Rao Tula Ram Marg and Sangam Marg on the Outer Ring Road. On the contrary, the present traffic movement has been causing greater inconvenience to the residents of Vasant Vihar coming from Poorvi Marg, Vasant Marg and Pashchimi Marg, who have to crawl for over 30 minutes to take the U-turn from the RTR Marg flyover, thus aggravating the traffic snarl. This arrangement was put in place after all right turns on the Outer Ring Road from Munirka flyover to the RTR Marg flyover were curtailed.

The Pioneer had on March 16, reported the plight of the motorists in general and the residents of Vasant Vihar in particular while crossing the brief stretch from Munirka to RTR Marg. Lack of foresightedness of the Delhi Government while constructing the flyover has left the commuters subject to massive traffic jams and interminable delays throughout the day. Against the Government's claim to have made the Outer Ring Road signal-free from Kalkaji to the airport and onward to the Gurgaon Expressway, the construction of the one-way flyover had been benefiting only the traffic coming towards the city.

The vehicles come fast from South Delhi through the two newly-opened six-lane flyovers at the JNU/Africa Avenue Road and Munirka crossings respectively; and then get stuck at the T-junction near Vasant Lok Apartments. Similarly, those turning right from Rao Tula Ram Marg to get to the airport or the Gurgaon Expressway have to wait for a long time, especially during peak hours. The decision to build a single-carriageway flyover has not only demolished the concept of signal-free Outer Ring Road, but also resulted in a huge problem for the Vasant Vihar residents. Ironically, the Government with opening of the RTR Marg flyover in October last year had claimed that it would eliminate traffic jams on the route from the IIT to NH-8.

According to K.T. Ravindran, chairman of the Delhi Urban Art Commission, a night bazaar in Pragati Maidan or Chandni Chowk will be a major tourist attraction during the Oct 3-14 Games.

'After the Games and even during it, people will look for entertainment and food and shopping in the city. A night bazaar in Pragati Maidan or Chandni Chowk will satisfy tourists in this regard. We can also have mobile craft vans,' Ravindran said on the concluding day of the two-day meet.

Spiritual tourism to showcase different faiths is another idea that experts suggested.

Mala Sekhri, COO of the India Today Group said: 'An early morning religious tour to temples, gurudwaras and other religious places will give the tourist an overview of the different faiths that India is home to.'

Source: Sify.com Exciting ideas proposed to woo CWG tourists

"The Commonwealth Games, besides attracting foreign tourists, will also attract domestic tourists, especially youngsters, from various states of the country. I suggest that at the entry point of Delhi, maybe at the highways, there could be temporary live-in facilities like dorms with an eating area and toilets. There could be a park and ride facility to the city and to the games venues," Ravindran said.

"Among other things, this arrangement will offer a low cost option for people and also help manage the traffic by arresting the in-flow at the periphery of the city itself," he added.

V.K. Verma, director general of the organising committee of the Commonwealth Games, informed the conclave that they are in talks with hotels for "reasonably priced" travel packages for the benefit of backpackers and other tourists during the games.

"In places like Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, you have packages such that your living cost is below $100 per day. Therefore, if we have to be competitive, we have to create similar packages. We have spoken to hotels of different categories on this," Verma said.

Those who are waiting to own a house are suddenly spoilt for choice. The residential real estate market is witnessing a spate of new launches across the country. The offerings range from premium housing to affordable ones and are getting a good response from buyers.

Good opportunity Several developers have launched new residential projects, including affordable and premium housing, across the country.

Abhishek Kiran Gupta, head (research), Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, international property consultants, says: "After July 2009 till festivities, the projects were clearly categorized into two segments: affordable category and mid-end to high-end housing. After witnessing huge sales in the affordable category, developers increased the prices at the end of previous year by 15% in some parts."

In the affordable category, the rates are up by 5-10% since July and that in the mid- to high-end segment by 20%.

Samantak Das, national head (research), Knight Frank India, a consultancy firm, says, "In the coming months, there will be some hike in rates. In the mid-level housing segment, developers will have profit of 20-25%, but price hike may lead to a dip in sales."

Mumbai has witnessed new launches from Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd and DB Realty Ltd. Indiabulls' projects offer premium housing in the range of Rs27,000-30,000 per sq. ft in Lower Parel area. DB Realty's project is selling at Rs27,500 per sq. ft in Prabhadevi. Some new projects are also coming up in Kandivali from Hiranandani Developers Ltd and Ekta World, in the lower range.

Delhi-NCR has a mix of project offerings. Most of the recent launches are in the peripheral areas of Gurgaon and Noida. Supertech Ltd, Amrapali Ltd and Prateek Buildtech India Pvt. Ltd have launched their township projects in Noida.

The rates are in the range of Rs1,800-2,500 per sq. ft. Gurgaon is still leaning towards the premium side. Emmar MGF Ltd's project at the National Highway 8 offers a rate of Rs3,499 per sq. ft, while another premium project from Pioneer Urban Land and Infrastructure Ltd is offering a rate of Rs5,000 per sq. ft.

Other metros, such as Bangalore and Hyderabad, have also witnessed new launches.

devesh@livemint.com

Noble initiative: "Smile on Wheels" being flagged off by Batra Hospital and Medical Research Centre CEO Sanjeev Bagai in New Delhi on Thursday.

Smile Foundation, a national-level development organisation, on Thursday launched its second innovative mobile hospital in Delhi and the National Capital Region for providing comprehensive health care services to marginalised communities at their doorstep.

"Smile on Wheels" is a health care van that will provide medical treatment and check up to the needy, particularly children and women. A full-time doctor and para-medical staff will travel in a van equipped with electro-cardio gram and X-ray with dark room. The van will ply in Kalyanpuri, Khichripur, Trilokpuri and Dallupura areas of East Delhi and Noida.

Flagging off the van at the Constitution Club here, Batra Hospital and Medical Research Centre CEO Sanjeev Bagai pointed out that 80 per cent of the health care in our country is privately driven, 40 per cent of children under five years are malnourished and over a million deaths are reported annually. "In such a staggering scenario, the initiative by Smile Foundation will bridge the gap and help in facilitating affordable, accessible and accurate health care services to all sections of society."

"With a population of 1.2 billion people, providing health care services to every citizen is a Herculean task. We need more than 7 lakh beds in hospitals. Therefore, the government must work in partnership with private hospitals," said Dr. Bagai, a senior paediatrician.

Source: The Hindu By Madhur Tankha Health care for the needy at doorstep

The realty firm wants to di- vide its 42 acres on Old Ma- habalipuram Road off Chennai into four or five portions, each of which will be handed over to local developers for building residential apartments.

"We don't know much about the Chennai market and think it's a good idea to bring in people who have the know- ledge," said Anand Reddy, di- rector of PBEL Property, which has a project pipeline mostly in southern India. "Of course, we will keep a portion of the land which we'll develop our- selves."

A number of large develop- ers are similarly forming joint ventures (JVs) or special pur- pose vehicles with smaller, lo- cal developers for specific pro- jects on a revenue-sharing model.

"We will see more develop- ers getting into such JVs depending on what the local partner brings to the table," said a senior research analyst at First Global Securities Ltd, who didn't want to be named."It could be land, local domain knowledge or even good build- ing capacity."

madhurima.n@livemint.com

Source: Live Mint By MADHURIMA NANDY Rapid Expansion : Big Developers Scout For Local Partners To Grow

The move comes after the department received complaints about the lack of toilets in the city and the difficulty in finding the existing ones. The map will include public toilets as well as toilets in commercial buildings located in the area. Rina Ray, Managing Director of Delhi Transport and Tourism Development Corporation (DTTDC), said since the information on toilets is unavailable, it becomes inconvenient for people to travel in the city. She was speaking at the first-ever conclave held on Delhi Tourism on Thursday. The map would be available online as well as in tourist offices.

Ray added that her department is coming up with several maps of Delhi's tourist places, monuments, gardens and parks -this map will be part of the plan. The project is expected to be completed before the Commonwealth Games and work has already started on identifying restaurants, pubs and malls where toilets are located. The two-day conclave that began on Thursday at the India Islamic Cultural Centre focussed on challenges faced by the tourism industry and the steps taken by bodies such as Archaeological Society of India (ASI), Indian Railways and other stakeholders to address the problems.

KK Muhammed, the Superintending Archaeologist of ASI (Delhi Circle), said the organisation is opening up new cafeterias at various monuments before the Games this October. According to the delegates at th conclave, tourists in India often fac difficulty in finding a clean toilet an the tourism department must concen trate on ensuring this facility.

Danseuse Sharon Lowen suggested visit to India could be more interestin if tourists are also allowed to learn loca art forms.

"If a tourist is visiting a place wher pottery is made, let him/her be given wheel and some clay to make his/he own pot," she said.

The new proposal involves a three-tier entry norm--de- pending on project size--for potential bidders, said a Na- tional Highways Authority of India (NHAI) official, who spoke on condition of ano- nymity. Bidders for projects below Rs2,000 crore would need to have a net worth of at least 25% of the cost of the project, with the cap progres- sively increasing to 50% for projects worth Rs2,000-3,000 crore and 100% for projects above Rs3,000 crore.

The proposal, which came from the ministry of road transport and highways, was at a preliminary stage and yet to be made to the board of the authority, the official said.

As much as one-third of all future highway projects thatcome up for award may cost in excess of Rs3,000 crore to build, the NHAI official said, and added that the net worth criterion is just one of several changes being considered.
Mint could not immediately ascertain the others.

A model document govern- ing initial bids--published by the Planning Commission and meant as a guide for minis- tries--suggests that companies should have a net worth of 25% of the cost of the project.

Highway experts said the au- thority has long grappled with a way to assess capacity of highway bidders, as a few firms in India's still nascent public- private partnership road build- ing industry vie for an ever in- creasing number of projects.

A road ministry official said the move was being considered in order to prevent the practice of "name-lending", whereby large companies give their names to smaller firms--often for a fee--so they can be eligi- ble to bid for projects.

An executive with a consult- ing firm surmised that the pro- posed regulations may also be a way of ensuring that projects don't get delayed because of smaller companies bidding for large projects that are beyond their capacity.

rahul.c@livemint.com

Source: Live Mint By RAHUL CHANDRAN Higher net worth norms likely for road builders

Following the High Court order, authorities concerned have now decided to prepare radio jingles as well as TV and newspaper advertisements to reach out to workers about their right to approach the government for monetary aid.

A welfare fund of Rs 370 crore 1 per cent of the total cost of the Commonwealth Games projects as stipulated by the 1996 Building and Other Construction Workers Act was earlier set aside for use not only to disburse compensation to registered workers, but also as loans for houses, education and health-related provisions. The report submitted by the monitoring committee in the court on Wednesday said a decision was taken on "information education communication or behaviour communication campaign" to be carried out by the Welfare Board through "hoardings, advertisements, the electronic and print media". A website of the Board has also been set up, the report said.

The jingles and TV ads are likely to be released by the first week of April, sources said. They will communicate information about the mandatory registration of workers and their rights to avoid exploitation.

The report submitted by Delhi government's standing counsel Najmi Waziri detailed plans to involve the Directorate of Education, MCD, NDMC, Cantonment Board and even the Delhi University in the campaign.

After a visit spanning a month, they concluded that the plight of the approximately 17,000 labourers toiling day and night in rough weather to make Delhi a world-class city before the Games is indeed "pathetic" Those under fire are Sports Authority of India and agencies in charge of constructions - Delhi Government, DDA CPWD, NDMC, MCD and con- tractors. The panel has recom- mended "exemplary" fine on the errant authorities.

On January 27 the court had ordered a five-member com- mittee comprising former UN Ambassador Arundhati Ghosh Labour Commissioner and Labour Secretary to conduct inspections at various work sites acting on a Public Interest Litigation filed by NGO People's Union For Democratic Rights.

Basing the plea on two sur- veys, the NGO had said the labourers were working and liv- ing in "highly dangerous and deplorable conditions".
, "They earn lower than the stipulated wage and have no access to even the most basic sanitation and health facilities and were not provided safety equipment," the PIL stated. The committee's preliminary report submitted on Wedn- esday said, "All allegations made in the PIL are well founded."

It said minimum wages were not being paid in many cases and most labourers were not paid for doing extra time.

htreporters@hindustantimes.com

Source: Hindustan Times By Harish V. Nair Govt Charged With Mistreating Commonwealth Games Workers

The decision was taken in the meeting of EGoM, consisting of road transport and highways minister Kamal Nath, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, on Wednesday. The government has been receiving demands for declaration of 50,000-km state roads as national highways.

The road ministry has now started the process of identifying 10,000 km stretches of state roads that could be considered for declaration as new national highways. The declaration would be done on the basis of the proposals given by state governments, stretches identified under the current 20-year road development plan of the ministry, and roads considered important from strategic considerations, a senior official in the ministry said.

The ministry has estimated the total fund requirement for development of these 10,000 km of state roads at about Rs 15,000 crore in the five years ending 2015-16. The group could not discuss the proposal of changing the norms on toll for two-lane highways, the official said.

Meanwhile, National Highways Authority of India is going to take up on Friday the issue of altering request for qualification and request for proposal documents so as to include suitable provisions for the ambitious mega highways projects--which will need investment of about Rs 4,000 crore each. The government has identified 10 such projects and expects to start inviting bids for the same in the next two months.

"Ex. Engg. CBM Division M-131 PWD, GNCTD informed that the work of NOC for temporary Cinemas was transferred to the MCD."

That's straight from official minutes of a meeting at the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

While anyone who has encountered the bureaucracy in DDA knows the housing authority excels in jargon, keeping the language in draft policies and procedures archaic, convoluted and full of acronyms that mean little to anyone outside, it seems matters have now come to a head. At a meeting held at the Raj Niwas on February 17, it was pointed out to DDA officials that the agency's policies were steadily beginning to mirror rocket science manuals.

Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna, who was present at the meeting, had to finally ask the DDA to prepare a "user-friendly handbook of procedures or documents on every subject, for the convenience of the public", according to minutes of the meeting.

The issue came up after the DDA presented a policy on "Building regulations for special area, unauthorised colonies and villages" for approval. A non-official member of Authority suggested that the DDA should consider printing a "handbook of procedures" for the public, because the "regulations, in their present format, cannot be understood by the common man", the minutes state.

MCD Commissioner K S Mehra backed the suggestion. The minutes of the meeting say: "Commissioner MCD pointed out that even the MCD has to seek clarifications from the DDA on several issues and replies sent by the DDA merely refer to provisions of the Masterplan."

Source: The Indian Express By Mandakini Gahlot Cut the jargon, simplify language, DDA told

Now, under the Antyodya Anna Yojana (AAY), a homeless household in the Capital will be supplied with 25 kg of wheat, 10 kg of rice, 6 kg of sugar and 22 litres of kerosene oil once it gets an AAY card.

The AAY scheme, launched in 2000, intends to provide special food-based assistance to destitute households that are given a special ration card, and are entitled to special grain quotas at highly subsidised prices.

Under the scheme, homeless individuals, who are not part of a household, will get 10 kg of wheat, 5 kg of rice and 10 litres of kerosene oil per person each month at Below Poverty Line (BPL) rates.

This is part of an official communication from the Office of the Commissioner (Food, Supplies and Consumer Affairs) to Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran.

The letter was produced before a Supreme Court Division Bench led by Justice Dalveer Bhandari on Tuesday in compliance to court orders to implement the AAY scheme for the homeless people, too. The state government was represented by advocate Wasim Qadri.

The Bench subsequently recorded the contents of the letter dated March 11, 2010 in its written order on Tuesday.

The letter, drafted by Joint Commissioner R T L D'Souza, informs that arrangements have been made to distribute the supmade to distribute the supplies among 14,850 homeless people with effect from March this year.

The ASG Parasaran submitted that two phases of a survey to identify homeless people in Delhi is already over.

Recording Parasaran's submissions, the court said in its order that "the Chief Secretary had a meeting on January 20, 2010 and directed the survey to be completed by May 21 this year, so that the AAY cards can be issued for homeless people".

Source: The Indian Express By KRISHNADAS RAJAGOPAL & AANCHAL BANSAL Ration supply to homeless people fixed, SC told

It has come to light that the MCD has not fully utilised the funds sanctioned to it by MLAs and MPs for the development of their constituencies. In 2009-10, 62 MLAs and eight MPs gave about Rs 102 crore to the MCD.

But only about Rs 6 crore was spent till February 28 this year. This means that a huge sum of Rs 96 crore is lying unspent. In fact, there are 34 MLAs whose funds have not been touched at all! These include Surender Kumar from Bawana, who gave over Rs 2 crore; Bijender Singh from Nangloi Jat, who gave Rs 1.5 crore; Kanwar Karan Singh from Model Town, who gave about Rs 2 crore; Harsharan Singh Balli from Hari Nagar, who gave Rs 2.7 crore; and Bharat Singh from Najafgarh, who gave Rs 2.8 crore.

These funds were released by the MLAs for civic work in their constituencies such as revamping of roads and parks and construction of community halls.

Source: Mail Today By Mausam Sharma Projects Stuck But MCD Funds Idling