NCR RWA writes to Noida Authority CEO, Delhi CM over DND maintenance

Delhi/NCR

The NCR RWA has written to authority CEO Deepak Agarwal and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on February 20 over the maintenance issues of DND till the Supreme Court verdict comes on the matter. For this, they have proposed a joint action committee comprising of Noida Authority, Noida Toll Bridge Company Ltd (NTBCL - responsible for DND maintenance) and Delhi government to coordinate amongst them for the same.

"Since the Supreme Court verdict of (November 11, 2016) upholding the Allahabad High Court order (Oct 26, 2016) for a toll free DND, the maintenance of the said road has stopped as NTBCL, primary company responsible for the maintenance of the road, is not doing the same. Because of this there is no regular cleaning, lighting, upkeep of plants and daily maintenance of the road. Also, there's need to increase police patrolling as well as deployment of fire tender and ambulance to tend to emergencies," said P S Jain, president Confederation of NCR Residents Welfare Associations (CONRWA).

According to Jain, since the possession of the road is with NTBCL it is the responsibility of the company to maintain it. "But there's no maintenance happening on the road," said Jain.

CONRWA further states that since one part of the road is under ownership and control of Noida authority and the other major part is in ownership and control of Delhi government, a joint responsibility of both to maintain the road falls on both bodies in the public interest. "Hence we've written to CEO Agarwal and CM Kejriwal to form a joint committee of Noida authority with NTBCL and Delhi government to carry out the maintenance work of the road before the condition worsens," said Jain.

Anil Sharma, general secretary, CONRWA, added that concerned officers from Delhi should also be asked to take care of the area falling under control of Delhi government. "It has been observed that the municipal toll collection by MCD Delhi, obstruct the road by stopping the vehicles in a non-disciplined manner. This obstruction on the road should be checked and the toll collection should be properly organised," said Sharma.

The DND flyway connecting Delhi and neighbouring Noida was declared toll free for commuters by the Allahabad High court order (of Oct 26, 2016) in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) number 118. R 60214/2012 filed by Federation of Noida Residents Welfare Associations (FONRWA of Nov 16, 2012) demanding a toll free DND.

The said judgment was further upheld by the Supreme Court on Oct 27, 2016 and also Nov 11, 2016 demanding a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) inquiry into the cost of the DND flyway project and submit a report before the Apex court.

Source - Magicbricks 

Govt approves 90,095 more affordable homes under PMAY(Urban) in 3 states

NEW DELHI: The government on Monday approved construction of 90,095 more affordable houses for urban poor under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) with an investment of Rs 5,590 crore in three states. The central assistance for the same would be Rs 1,188 crore.

The ministry of housing & urban poverty alleviation (HUPA) has allotted the highest 82,262 houses in 49 cities and towns of Madhya Pradesh with an investment of Rs 5,260 crore with a central assistance of Rs 1,071 crore.

Jammu & Kashmir got 4,915 houses in 24 cities and towns with an investment of Rs 240 crore and central assistance of Rs 74 crore, while Dadra & Nagar Haveli’s capital Silvassa has been sanctioned 803 affordable houses with an investment of Rs 26 crore and central assistance of Rs 12 crore.

The government approved 46,823 new houses under the beneficiary led construction (BLC) component of PMAY (Urban), enhancement of 773 houses in Jammu & Kashmir under BLC and building 42,499 new houses in Madhya Pradesh under affordable housing in partnership (AHP) component.

In Madhya Pradesh, another 39,763 new houses will be built under BLC component under which an eligible beneficiary is assisted to build a house on the land owned by him/her. This takes the total affordable houses approved for Madhya Pradesh to 187,135 and for Jammu & Kashmir to 5,864.

The government has so far approved construction of 1,651,687 affordable homes for the benefit of urban poor under PMAY (Urban) with a total investment of Rs 89,072 crore with central assistance of Rs 25,819 crore.

Under BLC and AHP components of PMAY (Urban), central assistance of Rs 1.50 lakh is provided for each beneficiary.

Source-

From April 1, pay 5 times more for freehold conversion in Delhi

Delhi/NCR

You will have to pay nearly five times higher ground rent from April 1 while applying for freehold of properties in prime locations of the capital, which have been leased out by the land and development office (L&DO) under the urban development ministry.

Even those property owners who converted their leasehold properties to freehold between 2000 and 2017 would have to pay the revised rent, specific to the year when the deed was approved. Sources said L&DO had taken affidavits from all the applicants with an undertaking to pay revised rent at the time when they applied for freehold.

The urban development ministry has approved aligning the land rates of L&DO at par with Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and it issued a circular on February 15. While DDA has been revising its land rate periodically, L&DO has not revised it since 2000. Rates of DDA are at least five times more than the L&DO’s rates.

Ground rent, which is paid annually by the lease holders to the land owner, is in the range of 2.5% to 5% of the premium or cost of the land in the case of L&DO properties. These properties are located in prime areas including Connaught Place, Hailey Road, Mandir Marg, Parliament Street, Khan Market, Prithviraj Road, Golf Links, Defence Colony, Sundar Nagar, Vasant Vihar and Nizamuddin, to name a few.

So far, L&DO has leased out around 65,000 properties in Delhi and about 30,000 of these have been converted to freehold.

Sources said the revised rates of land will be different, depending on the localities and type of the property.

According to the last revision of land rates by L&DO in 1998, one sq metre of residential property in CP cost nearly Rs 18,500 while a sq meter of commercial property cost about Rs 58,000. Once the rates are notified, the minimum cost of one sq meter of residential property would increase to about Rs 92,000 and commercial property price to around Rs 2.9 lakh. So, the ground rent will also increase substantially.

This is also likely to increase L&DO’s annual revenue from rent substantially. Moreover, one time clearing of old dues by freehold property owners may generate Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 crore.

Announcing the revision of land rates, L&DO said, "The revision is due from April 1, 2000. It has been decided by the competent authority to align the lane rates with rates notified by DDA with effect from April 1, 2000." The order said since the implementation of the revised rates entails modification of the specific rates on the web-portal, so applications for conversion of land has been kept in abeyance till this March end.

Source - MagicBricks

GST to decrease operating cost of warehousing, enable consolidation: Survey

NEW DELHI: Majority of the leading warehousing space occupiers feel implementation of the goods and service tax (GST) would decrease the operating costs and would be positive for their overall business operations in India, according to a survey by CBRE.

More than 63% of the respondents hope decrease in operating costs will enable them to consolidate their smaller facilities into larger ones and expand their footprint around major consumption centres.

About 45% feel that their cost of warehousing operations may decline once the GST comes into play, while around 25% were cautious and felt that it is too early to assess the actual impact.

Location is the most important factor for companies while leasing warehousing space, followed by the real estate cost of leasing space in a particular state/city, the survey revealed.

"While currently location decisions may also be influenced by tax-incidence, however, post the implementation of the GST, most warehousing occupiers are expected to take decisions purely on the basis of reach to market, quality and size requirements," said Jasmine Singh, head - industrial and logistics services, India, CBRE.

About 65% of respondents believe that they will need a minimum of 3 to 12 months to align their existing business strategies with the new tax structure.

Consolidation of warehousing portfolios will be the most important strategy for companies in the post GST era, with about to 28% of respondents voting for it, while 23% of companies plan to further expand their operations across the country.

"This will result in increased demand for larger, better quality warehouses thereby providing an ideal platform for the emergence of large scale nationwide players," Singh said.

The concept of a mother warehousing hub for a region supplemented by spokes is expected to become more popular in the post-GST scenario, with around 11% of companies preferring to adopt the hub and spoke approach, compared to only 6% now.

Due to the multiple tax rates at the state and city level, goods often spend a substantial amount of time in transit. This increases the overall cost of transport and makes the system inefficient.

The removal of various federal tax barriers and creation of a common market will improve supply chain efficiency and attract more foreign direct investment (FDI).

"While some may argue that the reform may prove to be detrimental for the smaller players, in our opinion it is likely to allow these smaller players to develop better quality assets or enter into joint ventures with larger players," Singh said.

Survey respondents included leading corporates in sectors such as third party logistics (3PLs), e-commerce, engineering & manufacturing, fast moving consumer durables and non-durables, pharmaceuticals and retail. Approximately 63% of respondents were domestic corporates, while the rest were headquartered abroad.

Source: ET Realty

Ghaziabad dept body to curtail expenses after row over CAG audit

GHAZIABAD: Nearly a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi flayed Akhilesh Yadav government for not allowing CAG audit of expenditure in Ghaziabad Development Authority, the civic body has set in motion a process to curtail unwanted expenses in the authority.

According to sources, GDA vice-chairman Vijay Kumar Yadav recently wrote to its finance wing seeking details of expenditure under various heads and draw a plan wherein extravagances could be checked.

"The vice-chairman issued a directive to draw a plan where we could curtail unwanted expenses and we are in the process of preparing it," said T R Yadav, finance controller, GDA.

"The running cost of GDA comes to nearly Rs 75 crore in a year which includes administrative cost, establishment cost, repair and maintenance cost, expenses on vehicles and on training and workshop," said Yadav.

The annual administrative cost comes to nearly Rs 4.76 crore while the establishment cost per year is Rs 4 crore. The expenses on repair and maintenance of all buildings owned by GDA is Rs 4.49 crore per year.

GDA also spends Rs 25 lakh annually on fuel and maintenance of vehicles, while Rs 11 lakh is spent on training and workshops.

"By judicious use of resources, we can save crores. For instance, we have outsourced computer operations to nearly 40 others which cost us immensely. We could use available manpower resources within GDA for the purpose instead of outsourcing them," he said.

"Likewise, stationery, newspaper and magazines cost us nearly Rs 21 lakh annually. We could check these expenses also," said Yadav.

During an election rally in Ghaziabad on February 8, Narendra Modi specifically took GDA's name and said that if voted to power in the state, the BJP will make CAG audit mandatory for all authorities including GDA.

The Akhilesh Yadav government in the past refused to allow CAG audit of GDA on the ground that funds allotted to it comes from state government's coffer, while the rest is generated by GDA itself.

 Source: ET Realty

Lift construction bar in Aravalis: Haryana

NEW DELHI: In a fresh attempt to allow more non-forest activities, including real estate projects, in the ecologically fragile Aravalis, the Haryana government has moved a proposal to amend a key provision in the Regional Plan of NCR 2021, which restricts using barely 0.5% of land for “recreational activities”.

In its proposal to the urban development ministry, the Manohar Lal Khattar government has demanded that the restriction be lifted in the Aravalis. Sources said the state has argued that since the apex panel of NCR Planning Board (NCRPB) has approved that the Aravali notification of 1992 will be applicable for the entire range, there is no need to have this restrictive provision on allowing construction activities. Till Aravali notification covered only Gurgaon (Haryana) and Alawar (Rajasthan) districts.

The ministry is likely to discuss the issue with Haryana government officials next week and may ask NCRPB to prepare a draft to amend the provision.

Haryana has said such zoning regulations of Regional Plan-2021 (restricting only 0.5% of construction, that also for recreational activities) should not be made applicable since this is an additional restriction. Harayna had consented to this provision when the regional plan was notified in early 2000. But subsequently, the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government raised demand to lift this restriction to allow more real estate activities in the guise of “recreational projects”, though it never succeeded.

Now after making public commitment to protect and conserve Aravalis, the BJP government has raised the similar demand like that of the Hooda government.

TOI has learnt that Haryana has argued that the Aravali notification of 1992 specifies the activities which can be permitted after getting prior approval from the ministry of forest and environment (MoEF). Hence, there is no need to have another restrictive condition.

The Regional Plan-2021 mentions that in Natural Conservation Zones (NCZs), which include Aravalis, lakes and other water recharge zones only agriculture, horticulture, pisciculture, social forestry/ plantations and recreational activities can be permitted.

Green activists said though the state may claim that MoEF guidelines would be enough to safeguard the environmental impact, doing away with restriction for non-forest activities will open up Aravalis for more commercial exploitation.

Source: ET Realty

Interest subsidy on housing loan applicable from January 1, 2017

Anyone who has applied and got a home loan sanctioned after January 1 and has less than Rs 18 lakh annual income, will be eligible for interest subsidy of 3-4%. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the interest subsidy on December 31, though the annual income criteria was not announced.

This benefit interest subsidy can also be availed by unmarried and earning young adults for acquisition/ construction of a new house including repurchase.Moreover, flats measuring up to 960 sq ft and 1,184 sq ft will be eligible for 3% and 4% interest subsidy respectively for the specified income group.

TOI on January 4 had first reported that the housing ministry had moved a proposal to provide 4% rebate on interest rate for loans up to Rs 9 lakh and this can be availed by those who earn up to Rs 12 lakh annually in urban areas. Similarly, people earning up to Rs 18 lakh annually will be eligible to avail 3% rebate on interest for loan up to Rs 12 lakh.

Sources in housing finance sector said that though the government had finalized the policy, it has not yet announced it because of election code of conduct. In fact, the ministry had held a meeting with banks and housing finance companies where the operational guidelines for "credit linked subsidy scheme for middle-income groups (CLSS-MIG)" was discussed.

The rebate in interest rate is likely to push housing demand in urban areas and thereby help the sector to revive.

Source - Economics Times