Builders must get occupancy papers soon: DM to Authority

NOIDA: Gautam Budh Nagar's district magistrate N P Singh has written to the Noida Authority requesting it to ask developers to obtain occupancy certificates.

According to Singh, the developers are delaying the handing over of flats to homebuyers, using the excuse of the eco-sensitive zone around the Okhla bird sanctuary. This is leading to a revenue loss for the government. The government will earn nearly Rs 450 crore once over 80,000 flats, falling within the 10-km radius of the sanctuary, are registered.

In his letter (a copy of which is with TOI), the district magistrate has said that home buyers are in a state of panic as they have still not got possession of their flats, despite the Centre notifying the eco-sensitive zone around the sanctuary. His contention is that builders have defaulted on their payment - remaining portion of the land cost - to the Noida Authority, without which they won't get occupancy certificates, and without which they can't hand over buildings to homebuyers.

"Due to the delay in registration of properties, the stamp and registration department could not achieve the revenue target," the letter said.

When contacted, Singh said, "I have written a letter to the Noida Authority to take necessary action into the matter so that relief homebuyers get relief and the stamp and registration department achieves its revenue target."

Officials of the UP stamp and registration department also said that the department could not achieve the desired stamp duty against the registry of those flats, which got delayed because it took time to demarcate the eco-sensitive zone around the sanctuary. The officials said more than two weeks have passed but so far no registry has taken place because the developers have not obtained occupancy certificates from the Noida Authority. "The department was expecting revenue on account of stamp duty, but so far no flat has been registered," UP stamp and registration department's deputy inspector general Arvind Singh Chandel said.

Source: Times of India

Rs 192 crore released to prepare Smart City plan

NEW DELHI: Union Urban Development Ministry on Thursday sanctioned a sum of Rs 192 cr under Smart City Mission for 96 cities included in the ambitious project.

Each of the cities has been given Rs 2 cr for preparing Smart City plan.

"Rs 2 cr provided for each city is meant for preparation of city level Smart City Plans with the assistance of technical and hand holding agencies," said a senior UD Ministry official.

The city level plans are to be submitted to the Urban Development Ministry in the next three months for evaluation for selecting the top 20 rankers for extending financial support during the current financial year.

Government has announced the names of 98 cities including Union Territories of Delhi and Chandigarh to be developed as Smart Cities.

Funds for Delhi and Chandigarh will be sanctioned soon by the Home Ministry, he said.

One city each from Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh are still to be identified for inclusion in the Smart City Mission.

Sanction Orders were issued to 38 smart city representatives from 11 states who attended the Regional Workshop here.

Government has earmarked Rs 48,000 cr for the Smart City project and an equal amount is expected to be contributed by the respective state governments and urban local bodies to develop 100 Smart Cities across the country.

Source: The Economics Times

Smart transportation for Smart Cities

As per a World Bank study, by 2031, some 600 million people are expected to live in India's cities. However, only about 20 Indian cities with populations over 500,000 have any kind of organized public transport systems. In fact, the share of public transport in large Indian cities actually declined from some 70 per cent in 1994 to almost 40 per cent in 2007. Furthermore, India's accident and fatality rates are among the highest in the world, mainly affecting the poor and vulnerable who do not have their own means of transportation.

City transportation is an important pillar for quality of life of citizens in a city. Currently, in most of the cities, public and private road transportation are the key mode of commuting and logistics. Some large and mega cities have metro and local train network as the backbone transportation mode.

Lack of quality and safe public transportation, inadequate capacity of public transportation, road safety concerns, overcrowded road network, poor traffic management, parking issues, theft, poor road conditions, lack of modal options (including pedestrian walkways) remain the key issues in most of the cities. Most cities also lack the integrated transportation plans leading to huge demand-supply gap and poor transportation network. For transport operators, huge demand-supply gap, under recovery  and poor asset management remain the key issues.

The schematic below highlight some of the key issues in public transportation in India which are mapped as a part of Accenture- NASSCOM report:

Transforming Public Transportation leveraging Smart Technology Solutions

Technology plays an important role by predicting demand and supply data to feed into transportation planning. Technology can also help in improving reliability of public transportation network by providing visibility on arrivals/departures/route information for travellers for hassle-free journey. Multi modal fare integration can help citizens to use multiple modal options without hassle of purchasing different tickets. Intelligent traffic management can aid efficient traffic flow.

 

The schematic from Accenture NASSCOM report below shows the how Smart Technology Solutions can be leverage to improve public transportation and transportation security:

Some of the technologies relevant for Smart Cities includes:

Bicycle sharing system: A bicycle sharing system, public bicycle system, or bike share scheme, is a service in which bicycles are made available for shared use to individuals on a very short-term basis. For many systems, smartphone mapping apps show nearby stations. They show how many bikes and how many open docks are available at each station, increasing convenience for users.

Geospatial-enabled efficient transportation system: Geospatial-enabled services provide periodic traffic forecast, journey planning mobile applications based on real-time data, etc.

Dynamic carpooling/car sharing: Carpooling applications link drivers and passengers in real-time, thus enabling dynamic carpooling. Drivers wishing to profit from their journeys can find people situated on the same route via a smartphone app and vice versa. Passengers can also directly debit his or her fare to app, eliminating the need for any money exchange. The costs of travel would typically be capped.

GPS-based tracking and route information of public transport: Advanced vehicle tracking solutions enhances operations and optimises public transportation and ridership. These solutions offer real-time GPS tracking from mobile devices thus increasing the reliability of public transportation.

Integrated transit hubs: Integrated transport hubs seamlessly connect multiple modes of transportation like bus system, metro system, etc.

Public transport surveillance: As the public transit population grows, it becomes increasingly important to launch surveillance system on the public transport, for e.g. buses, mass transit railway, underground, and trains to secure public transportation. The administrators can monitor the public transport remotely and take action against any accidents/incidents. The video footage can also be used as legal evidence against damage or criminal action on the public transport.

Road user charging: Road user charges are direct charges levied for the use of roads, including road tolls, distance or time-based fees, congestion charges and charges designed to discourage use of certain classes of vehicle, fuel sources or more polluting vehicles. These charges help to reduce peak hour travel  and the associated traffic congestion or other social and environmental negative externalities associated with road travel such as air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and visual intrusion, noise and road accidents. It can be leveraged in certain busy areas or selected cities to discourage private transport usage.

Single fare card: Single fare card for fare payment on the various participating public transportation systems. The cards can be recharged by mobile applications/internet/retail outlets. Potential extension of the cards could also be for street parking.

Smart parking: A smart parking leverages parking sensors, cameras, smart parking solution, etc. to provide efficient management of on street and off street parking spaces.

Smart toll: Smart toll leverages technology like number plate detection, RFID, etc. to charge toll fees to user account so that vehicles do not have to wait at toll gates on local, national and state highway.

Smart traffic lights: Smart traffic lights leverages technology to sense traffic condition to tune traffic lights which enable smooth flow of traffic.

Freight ICT services: Freight ICT applications can help save time and energy by improving the efficiency of freight vehicle operations including processes at entry and exit and making better use of the freight network. ICT brings the potential for virtually unlimited data collection, greatly enhanced predictive capabilities, and real-time, dynamic decision-making and implementation which lead to a more efficient freight system based on completely visible and accessible physical and digital networks.

Electric vehicles: Support electricity and renewable energy operated cars with the required infrastructure. Make a few cities as pilot for "Plug-in" ready cities by facilitating the expansion of a Public Electric Vehicle (EV) infrastructure that ensures the safe, reliable, and efficient integration of EV charging loads with the power grid.

Transportation is a key pillar for quality of life in a city. India needs a balanced focus in terms of improving/extending transportation infrastructure and leveraging smart technology solutions. While, there is lots that needs to be done to improve/extend public transportation infrastructure in Indian cities and Government of India is investing in various national/ state/ local initiatives to improve public transportation, there is also need to leverage Smart Technology Solutions to quickly improve efficiency/capacity of public transportation and to create high quality public transportation system.

Source: The Economic Times

MPD needs tuning, operational guidelines to work

NEW DELHI: Three years and more than 100 amendments later, the revised Master Plan for Delhi 2021 (MPD-2021) is nearly ready. While the Centre will soon notify provisions for transit-oriented development (TOD) and the environment, some amendments have already been implemented.

But is MPD-2021 a feasible plan? How much of it has been implemented? Does it really address the pressing concerns of the city and provide a realistic vision for sustainable development? Is it in sync with the ground realities? These are some of the questions on Delhi's mind.

Experts say many features of MPD-2021 have remained on paper for reasons ranging from the multiplicity of authorities in the city to poor enforcement and planning by the agencies concerned and the presence of many unauthorized colonies, slums, resettlement colonies and villages. Urban planners and experts TOI spoke to said the city needs operational guidelines to implement the MPD and these should be a part of the document.

The failure of civic and government agencies to prepare a local area plan (LAP) even after eight years is an example of the complications in the way of MPD-2021. The erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi had made an LAP for some municipal wards but it was never notified as MCD said it didn't have the powers to notify it while DDA insisted only MCD could notify it. "Due to this technical discrepancy, there is no approved LAP which is critical for any area's development. Operational guidelines will help in overcoming such discrepancies and help in faster implementation of the plan," said Sanjukta Bhaduri, head of the department of urban planning in School of Planning and Architecture who prepared some of the LAPs.

Experts say the MPD is good as a 'vision document' as it provides for sustainable development with provisions like TOD, land pooling and stress on conservation of heritage and the environment, but some of its provisions are not in sync with ground realities.

More than 60% of Delhi's population lives in unauthorized colonies, rural and urban villages and unauthorized regularized colonies. The document doesn't dwell much on the development needs of the people living in these areas. "Regularization of unauthorized colonies can't happen as per the terms and conditions of the present master plan. Building plans can't be sanctioned here as per the MPD. These colonies have come up illegally. There is a need to have different norms for them," said urban planner A G K Menon.

As a result, even "people-friendly" features like sub-division and amalgamation of plots haven't worked. Sub-division of plots was allowed in unauthorized regularized (UR) colonies, but it has not found any takers as the permitted floor-area ratio (FAR) is based on the plot's original size. "In most cases, the FAR has already been used up by people living on the sub-divided plots so fresh construction cannot be carried out on the vacant portion of the plot. This has led to rampant unauthorized construction in UR colonies," said a South Corporation official.

Experts say illegal construction is rampant in Delhi, so each master plan has focused on regularizing illegal activities. The 2007 MPD provided for legalizing commercial establishments in residential areas by allowing mixed land use. Now, the revised plan proposes low-density residential areas (LDRA), which is a way to regularize illegal farmhouses. Corporation officials say LDRA actually allows more dwelling units per plot.

"The vision is limited by the burden of the present. Each plan regularizes what has come up illegally. It is about time we seriously address the issues and provide practical solutions to decongest the city. There are villages which are 300 years old. There is a need for a special plan to restore them," said K T Ravindran, urban designer and former DUAC chairperson.

Experts say the provisions related to parking space need to be revised, as MPD-2021 stressed on providing parking while now the thrust is on public transport. "MPD-2021 allows for two equivalent car spaces per 100-sq metre of residential area and three in commercial areas. There is an urgent need to undo this clause for the success of TOD," said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment.

There's also a need for a rolling process of planning for timely course-correction. "Twenty years is too long a period for planning, given the city's complexities and fast growth rate," said Bhaduri.

New Delhi: To a common man it seems strange that years are spent in drawing and reviewing the master plan but Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the city's planning agency, says making the 'vision document' is a mammoth task. Decisions are taken after a lot of discussion between experts and implemented only after seeking and incorporating the public's views.

DDA had formed 12 sub-groups of experts from various fields to discuss the city's development and growing requirements of shelter, traffic and transportation, trade and commerce, etc.

More than 200 experts took two years to prepare the draft of Master Plan for Delhi 2021 after the Union urban development ministry commissioned it in 2003. Each group had academicians, experts working on the ground and government representatives. "They submitted their recommendations after reviewing sectoral studies and current problems like the commercialization of residential areas," said a senior DDA official.

Experts say the main objective of MPD-2021 was to address the city's growing needs while conserving the environment and heritage.

After the draft plan was notified in March 2005, DDA received more than 7,000 suggestions and objections from the public. "Close to 90% of the suggestions were related to property. We incorporated the suggestions for the city's development and sent them to our advisory council for approval," a DDA official said.

Finalizing a master plan after incorporating the public's suggestions takes a long time. The draft plan is vetted by various committees for legal and technical issues before it is sent to the Union urban development ministry which notifies it after receiving the Cabinet's approval.

"The entire exercise for preparing a draft plan is repeated after the public's suggestions are incorporated. That is why it takes years," said the official.

The same process is followed to notify a revised master plan. The revision started in early-2012 and the government is notifying the changes in phases. DDA officials say more than 100 amendments have already been made to MPD-2021. The urban development ministry is in the process of finalizing the last chapter on environment, which will be posted for people's suggestions and objections soon. Sources say the review is likely to end by December.

Source: Times Of India

SECTOR TO GAIN FROM REDUCED BANKING RATES

In a move that will provide a huge help in driving the demand for real estate sector in our country, a handful of banks have slashed their lending rates and a few have made a cut in their deposit rates which is considered a sign for future reduction in lending rates. A drop in lending rates means that the Equated Monthly Instalments (EMIs) are decreased which provides an immediate relief to the pockets of the customers. Country’s second largest private sector bank in terms of assets, HDFC Bank yesterday announced a reduction of 35 basis points or 0.35 percent on its base rate bringing it down to 9.35 percent which will be effective from today, from a previous 9.7 percent; currently getting it to the lowest in the industry standing shoulder-to-shoulder with SBI and ICICI Bank. Also, the Bengaluru-headquartered state owned Canara Bank reduced its lending rate by 10 basis points or 0.10 percent bringing it down to 9.90 percent from 10 percent previously. Axis Bank will reduce its deposit rates by 0.2-0.5 percent across various maturities with effect from today signalling a future drop in lending rates.

“The reduction in lending rates by banks is coming at the right time as we are inching closer towards the final festive season of the year where most home sales takes place. It was also important on the banks behalf that these rates were reduced as frequent nods had already come from the RBI chief and by end of this month, another RBI review policy is awaited that might see a rate cut only when the banking industry cooperates with the RBI”, states Mr. Deepak Kapoor, President-CREDAI Western U.P. & Director, GulshanHomz. Also agrees Mr. Ashok Gupta, who is the CMD of Ajnara India Ltd. as he believes that “There exists a direct relation between reduction in lending rates by banks and an increase in demand for property. It is then just a matter of proper timing by the banks while adjusting the rates. Just a month away from now we will begin with the festive season of the Hindu calendar where massive demand is observed every year, and this is the time when potential customers plan and allocate their funds for the big purchase. Thus, a fall in lending rates today will promote the sentiments in the market and allow people to strategize their upcoming purchase”.

The Reserve Bank Of India had already provided the country with three rate cuts this year by 25 basis points or 0.25 percent on each occasion. In its monetary policy review on August 4^th, RBI governor Mr. RaghuramRajan had deplored that banks had lowered their rates by only 30 basis points since the first rate cut in January this year despite RBI having cut its benchmark rate by as much as 75 basis points since then. Mr. Rajan had also linked better monetary policy show or banks cutting their lending rates to any future rate reduction by the central bank. “The RBI has played its part seemingly well with already reducing the repo rate by 75 basis points within this year with two more policy reviews left for this calendar year. The ball is now in the banks court to pass on the benefits to the public otherwise RBI won’t be too lenient in the upcoming policy reviews. This rate cut by banks is a welcome move as it will further assist in boosting the demand for homes in the sectorwhich has become the need of hour considering rising inventory levels nationwide”, explains Mr. KushagrAnsal, Director, Ansal Housing. Adding to the view, Mr. Sudeep Agarwal, MD, Shri Group avers “These surprise rate cuts by a few banks will put pressure on other lenders to bring down their rates which will be largely favourable for the potential customers as they will have much reduced EMIs to pay for their homes and at the other side, the future demand for property market will see a correction as the overall cost of a unit on the customer will reduce drastically. This also holds a big significance as further the banks reduce their rates, more pressure will mount on RBI for its next review policy”.

Banks with high liquidity can easily afford to decrease their lending rates without touching the deposit rates but banks with lesser liquidity are first forced to decrease the deposit rate which on the other hand increases their liquidity then can they bear the drop in the lending rates. A drop in the deposit rate directly leads to lesser returns on investments such as fixed deposits, etc. Thus, major players of the banking industry are able to satisfy the complete demand whereas other banks can either provide higher returns on investments or charge less on the amount lent to the public. “Looking at the present economic scenario in the country, the banks will have to create a perfect blend between providing higher returns on investments or charging less on loans as on either side sentiments play a vital role in attracting customers. Another way around can be, when RBI allows the banks to lend below the base rate particularly for home loans, so that the demand for credit and property can be ignited the benefit of which will go in the accounts of real estate sector and the banking industry”, enlightens Mr. Rupesh Gupta, Director, JM Housing.

As more and more banks join the race of reducing the lending rates, it will be an all-win situation for the public, and real estate sector will be the biggest gainer of them all. The prices in this sector are witnessing its record fall for over a few years along with unprecedented inventory levels that will now gradually benefit from this reduction in lending rates made by banks. “Blaming on poor purchasing power, today’s population in India is making all the big purchases on credit, thus making the role of Banks even more quintessential in how the economic cycle circulates. As the lending rates are directly proportional to the EMIs, lower Interest rates are the need of the hour. With the slash in lending rates by one of the biggest banks in India –HDFC and Canara- the borrowers are at the happy spot. Especially with festive season just around the corner, it was a wise step to shake the dormant sales in the real estate sector”, concludes Mr. Rajesh Goyal, Vice President-CREDAI Western U.P. & MD, RG Group.

How smart city tag can transform Ghaziabad realty

The Urban Development Minister, Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday unveiled the names of 98 cities which will come under the scrutiny of a smart city tag. Uttar Pradesh has the largest share of developing 13 smart cities, Ghaziabad being one of them. 

Will this news kick start the real estate market of Ghaziabad which has been stagnant in the last couple of months? ‘Yes,’ say industry experts.  

“The population moving to Ghaziabad over the last decade are salaried professionals, who are mostly tech savvy. Some of them are also concerned about the environment. Smart City is a concept that makes life easier for residents and enhances their quality of life. It is not limited to technology," says Gaurav Gupta, general secretary, CREDAI Raj Nagar Extension.

It includes transportation, waste management, traffic management, etc.  Ghaziabad has been shortlisted for stage 2 of the smart city mission. Everyone including real estate developers will work towards providing such an environment,” he adds.

The development authority plans to put up informative LEDs running on solar energy, free Wi-Fi access to residents of Ghaziabad for a limited period, etc.

Developing Ghaziabad as a smart city, will definitely bring in positive results. Developers will increasingly focus on energy conservation, pollution control and come up with eco-friendly projects that will add value to the lives of the residents also quality of living for residents will improve significantly,” Gupta adds.

Currently, Ghaziabad is going through infrastructural development - from Metro connectivity to flyovers and roads. “We have already executed the first phase of metro line from Anand Vihar to Vaishali. In the second phase, we are taking the metro from Dilshad Garden to Ghaziabad new bus stand through Mohan Nagar. In the third phase, we are planning metro line from Sector 62, Noida to Indirapuram CISF Road," says VK Goel, chief engineer, Ghaziabad Development Authority.

Further, there is a proposal in pipeline from Indirapuram CISF Road to Link Road and Vaishali to Mohan Nagar. The related Detailed Project Reports (DPR) are under preparation,” he adds.

Expert says that if the above mentioned development successfully completes and the government starts its process of converting the city into a Smart City, then it will push the property values significantly. “The announcement of it will only help in pushing up the values in the next 6 months or so, by at least 10-15 per cent. Once the metro and other infrastructures gets completed, property prices can grow even further,” says Ankur Budhiraja, AB Corporations, a local real estate agent. 

Ghaziabad might be considered as the city to invest. Under the smart city tag, it will definitely progress and being close to Delhi will boost its prefer-ability amongst buyers in months to come. Make an investment when the property prices are still lower and make the most of the opportunity.

Source: Magicbricks