Haryana Urban Development Authority to go online

The move is aimed at bringing transparency in the working of the authority and speed up execution of projects.

Chandigarh: The Haryana government has decided to computerize the entire working of Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA).

“HUDA is looking after the construction of various government buildings in the state and hundreds of people are associated with it. Therefore, in a bid to bring transparency in its affairs, we have decided to computerize the entire working,” a senior HUDA official said.

All old files will be made online and maps and architecture designs will be scanned and uploaded on our website.

It will help in the fast moving of the proposed projects and anybody can check the status of the project. All details of the projects like estimated time for completion and cost of raw material will be checked online. It would also reduce the paper work in the department, the official stated.

Also, HUDA has decided to call online tenders from various private contractors and is also contemplating to initiate the practice of online auctions in the coming months. 

HUDA has also decided to provide computer training to its employees and equip all senior officials with laptop and Internet connection. 

Bengal to implement National Building Code

It lays down a set of provisions for the safety of the public with regard to structural and health aspects of buildings sufficiency, fire hazards 

Kolkata: Taking a lesson from AMRI hospital tragedy, the West Bengal state government has decided to take extra precautions while constructing buildings in the state.

A day after the fire tragedy which claimed 90 lives at the AMRI hospital, state Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim had said that some amendments would be made in the building rules for the state.

Following which Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held a meeting with the administrative officials and advised them to implement strict building construction methods. These methods were formulated by the Centre long back, but the state has failed to implement it effectively.

Building construction methods would be aptly implemented in various hospitals, multi-storied building, cinema hall, shopping mall and other buildings where hundreds of people work every day. Expert opinion would also be taken in this regard.

PM mulls Rs.1,000 crore corpus for housing poor

New Delhi; (IANS) The government is considering creating a corpus fund of Rs.1,000 crore ($18.7 million) in the current fiscal that would encourage banks to give housing loans in “significant volumes” to the urban poor, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Tuesday.

Addressing a conference on the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) here, Manmohan Singh said the corpus of Rs.1,000 would be set aside to create a credit risk guarantee fund that could be used to cover any bank losses.

“Developing housing for the poor is critical for any strategy of sustainable urban development. Availability of bank credit will be a key determinant of successful implementation,” Manmohan Singh stressed.

“To encourage banks to lend in significant volumes to the economically weaker sections and low-income groups, we are considering the establishment of a credit risk guarantee fund with a corpus of Rs.1,000 crore, to start with, in the current year,” he said.

The prime minister said the challenges in urban development were “truly enormous” as he projected the Indian urban population to touch 600 million by 2031.

Currently 377 million Indians live in urban areas.

“Rapid growth will bring a faster rate of urbanisation. That is almost a corollary. As a result, our urban population is projected to increase to over 600 million by 2031,” he said.

Manmohan Singh emphasised the “urgent need” to focus on metropolitan planning, improving connectivity through better and larger networks of roads, expressways and highways.

He placed emphasis on better public transport in relation to affordable housing for the economically weaker sections of society.

“City planners must rethink traditional concepts of town planning. Master plans in the past did not consider spatial requirements for living and working of the poor. This must change, and change fast enough.”

He mentioned the government’s Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) launched this year for “creating inclusive and slum-free cities, while leveraging the value of land to generate revenues”.

“The aim is to achieve slum redevelopment and create affordable housing stock by providing assistance to those states that are willing to assign property rights to slum dwellers. This reform will give the urban poor a formal stake in the cities’ economic and social development.”

Corrupts Gulp 1.26 % of Total GDP: Real Estate amongst Most Corrupt Sectors

Public officials in India may be cornering as much as Rs.92,122 crore ($18.42 billion), or 1.26 per cent of the GDP, through corruption, says a new book by two economic experts. Bibek Debroy and Laveesh Bhandari estimate on the strength of Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) figures that most bribery is accrued from the transport industry, real estate and “other public services”. Pegging the figure of bribery from “other public services” at Rs.14,594 crore ($2.92 billion), the authors say this is mainly accounted for by leakages from official welfare programmes. 

Real estate and related business services involving registration of property and stamp duties account for Rs.12,534 crore ($2.5 billion) in corruption, says their book “Corruption in India: The DNA and RNA” ( Konark Publishers). Bribery at multiple checkpoints and by revenue officials, police and customs in the transport sector generate Rs.11,267 crore ($2.25 billion) in corruption, the authors say. The book estimates bribery amount from illegal mining, theft from public mines and licensing at Rs.9,578 crore ($1.91 billion).

This is followed by corruption in government procurement (Rs.9,144 crore or $1.82 billion). Bribe taking by inspectors, police and local bodies in unregistered manufacturing totals Rs.6,600 crore ($1.32 billion). Other sectors which enrich corrupt public servants are agriculture, forestry and logging, fishing, registered manufacturing, electricity, gas and water supply, construction, trade, hotels and restaurants, railways, storage, communication, and banking and insurance. Debroy is a professor with Delhi’s Centre for Policy Research. Bhandari heads Indicus Analytics, monitoring the performance of the Indian economy.

SMR’s Flagship Gated Community Project Getting Ready in Hyderabad

SMR Vinay Fountain Head, the flagship gated community of real estate developers SMR Group, would be ready by February next year. SMR would give possession of the dwelling units then. In all, it has about 975 units in 10-acre project coming up at Hydernagar, near the Miyapur to Ga-chibowli road in Hyderabad. The project is situated near the IT hub of Hyderabad. According to SMR chairman and managing director, S Ram Reddy, who is also the chief architect of the project, the Fountain Head focused on the layout to ensure that it would not be ‘crowded’. It would have four towers, each 19 floors and a lot of landscaping. 

The project is a combination of two BHK averaging 1,200 sq ft and three BHK measuring around 1,800 sq ft. The company claimed it has sold about 50 per cent of the units at an average price of Rs 2,900 per sq ft. The project cost is estimated to be Rs 350 crore, of which Rs 75 crore came from promoters, Rs 70 crore as loans from financial institutions and about Rs 150 crore from the owners- to-be.

“The total area of construction is about 20 per cent. We have left the remaining open. The structure is designed to withstand seismic loads,” he said. Based on customer feedback, it designed the living room for multiple uses. The units would have sit-outs offering a view of the surroundings, said Reddy, adding that the project has a 50 ft setback including 30 ft road and 20 ft greenery. About 75,000 sq ft has been earmarked for various amenities. For health freaks, Fountain Head would have a jogging track and separate gyms for men and women.

The terrace garden turns into a venue for get-togethers and celebrations with music. And for the pumped up ones, there is a dance floor, too. For leisure, swimming pool, reading room, coffee shop and tennis court are lined up. The gated community, where the apartments would not have common walls, would also provide wi-fi connectivity, a three-level parking including for guests, children play area, an amphitheatre and multiple banquet halls.
 

SMR has other residential projects — such as Sky City with 120 apartments in 13 floors at Uppal and Symphony with 190 units at Gachibowli — which are already partly occupied.