Haryana plans high-tech cities around NCR

New Delhi: To enable economic development of the central NCR towns on par with Delhi, Haryana has planned to develop Gurgaon, Faridabad, Bahadurgarh and Sonipat and the government has agreed to the most of the recommendations of the National Development Council (NDC) sub-committee on urbanization.

This was stated by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda at the second meeting of the sub-committee of National Development Council (NDC) on urbanisation at Vigyan Bhawan, here on Monday.

Bhupinder Singh Hooda

Hooda said the draft report proposes strategies for balanced development of the NCR so as to enable economic development of the central NCR towns on par with Delhi. “Haryana Government accords high priority to urban development and as such the budget provision for Urban Sector has been increased from Rs 4,434 crore in 2010-11 to Rs 6,917 crore in 2011-12,” Hooda said.

He also said that Haryana government agrees with most of the recommendations of the NDC Sub-Committee on Urbanisation, according to a Zee News report..
However, in the formulation of Model Municipal Law, devolution of powers, responsibilities and functions to the local governments and communities should be left to state governments, as the local issues of every state and urban local bodies are different.
Haryana, he said, has already prepared City Development Plans (CDP) for 74 towns of Haryana but sought Centre’s help to cover the needs of infrastructure, including roads, drains, water supply, sewerage etc., which required a huge investment of Rs 12,346 crore
Hooda said that Haryana Government has already notified Policy on Public Private Partnership (PPP).

One of the key features of this policy is to establish “Haryana Infrastructure Fund” for building the required infrastructure, he said, adding that the Centre may make adequate provisions in the 12th Five Year Plan for providing Viability Gap Funding (VGF) for PPP projects. He also sought enhancement in the VGF ceiling of 20 per cent.
Hooda stressed on the need to constitute an Urban Management Transport Authority for NCR so as to ensure an integrated transport planning. Haryana, he said, is the first state in the country to implement a metro project in Gurgaon through private investment.

He said for faster and modern urban transport facilities, including metros and Regional Rapid Transit Systems (RRTS) in the NCR cities are being actively considered and two priority corridors of RRTS – Delhi-Sonipat-Panipat and Delhi-Gurgaon-Alwar are highly capital intensive and asked Urban Development ministry to fund the same as the state was unable to do so.

Regarding provision of Metro services in the NCR area of Haryana Sub-Region, Hooda said that the work for extending Metro from Badarpur to YMCA chowk Faridabad will commence soon.

For extending Delhi Metro from Mundka (Delhi) to Bahadurgarh in Haryana, he said, it has already been decided that the Delhi portion of this project would be taken up in the supplementary part of Metro Phase-III, which needs to be expedited. For connecting IGI Airport New Delhi to IFFCO Chowk, Gurgaon via Dwarka, a scheme of high speed Metro Rail connectivity has been prepared with the help of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

Realty strikes for women construction workers

Blame it on socio-economic conditions or technological advancement; the percentage of women folks at the construction sites has seen a drastic decline in the last one decade dipping sharply to under 10 per cent from its peak level of 35 per cent, according to a survey.

For decades, the construction industry has been an abode for the poor migrant families who toiled on construction sites - wife worked alongside her husband even as their children loitered around - to eke out a living in the city. At its peak, experts estimated that women wage labourers comprised up to 35% of total workers employed at constructions sites in india.

The percentage of women workers at construction sites during Commonwealth Games was averaged at 2%. At its peak, the Delhi Metro project employed 30,000 construction workers. Women were not even 5% of them, according to an ET report.

"Earlier many workers came to cities with their families. Today, many come alone, leaving behind their families," says Karan Singh, executive director (HR), DMRC. Anjali Alexander, chairperson, Mobile Creche, has seen the dip first hand. The number of children on the construction sites has gone down steeply because there are fewer women there, it said.

This shift can be attributed largely to the changes that the construction industry has undergone. About two decades back, labour cost was about 15-20% of the total project cost. Today that has come down to 5-12%. This is primarily because construction industry has become automated, mechanised and capital intensive.

As today most of the residential and commercial buildings are high-rise structures. Hence safety becomes the prime factor for the labourers, who are reluctant to bring their families at the site. Another factor which stops women to work in the site is the workability condition. Most of the contractors do not prefer the sari-clad women baoureres who can’t work as fast as their male counterpart.

"There are safety issues involved in high-rise construction and workers do not want to work with families there," he says. It is difficult to make sari-wearing women work on physically strenuous job on viaduct, says Karan Singh of DMRC.

Anjali recalls the time when Delhi was preparing for the Asian Games in the 1980s. When Moolchand flyover was being built, Rajasthani workers migrated with their families and there were shanties all over that grew into slums later, she recalls.
This time for the Commonwealth Games, they used a lot of pre-fabricated material for building flyovers etc. Due to automation there is a thrust on skilled workers, which are often men. While earlier, about 80% of labourers working on construction sites were unskilled, today that has gone down to 50-60%. "There are no head loaders today. From hot cement mix to others - machines have replaced quite a bit of labour," she adds.

There is another reason why women workers may be seeing a dip. In 1996, the Construction Worker Act specified that any construction project employing more than 60 women have to have a crache. This additional burden would have further encouraged contractors to scale down hiring of women workers.

Bigger shift

But this dip in number of women workers signals many changes underneath. One, it signals a shift in migration patterns of workers at the bottom end. While earlier, many desperate unskilled workers migrated with families for a livelihood today many are migrating alone. "We see a sharp rise in young single male worker working on the construction sites," says Amita Baviskar, sociologist, Institute of Economic Growth.

These young workers often work 14 hours a day as the projects have faster turnaround - from a typical 5-6 years earlier, today it has come down to 2.5-3 years - and return home after two-six months before coming back again. It helps that wage levels have gone up, the report further said.

"Earlier, they came and looked for settling down with families here in jhuggis," says Alexander. That is not so pronounced now. This makes the workers more footloose and mobile - a fact buttressed by the fact that many labourers from Bihar, UP are frequently shifting their destination of migration today.

NREGA  jobs

Partly, this shift in migration patterns may also have to do with changes in the rural economy and the households. Earlier, coming from poorer states like Bihar and West Bengal, there was virtually no employment for these women back home," says Singh of DMRC.

Now, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) jobs, better political environment (like in Bihar), growing rural economy, rise in non-farm component in household incomes (which is both less volatile and more predictable) is boosting both employment and incomes in rural households. As a result many migrant workers prefer to leave behind their families back home.

There are two important side effects of NREGA that is helping too. One, NREGA sets the floor for the minimum wage in villages, which is being periodically revised by the government. For example, Singh of DMRC says the daily wages have gone up from 180 to 200 in the last six months.

Two, NREGA reduces gender discrimination in wages. S Sivakumar, CEO of ITC's agri-business, says that rural women workers typically earned 20-30% less than men for the same job. "With NREGA, for the first time, women are getting the same wage as men. And it has a bearing on their incomes," he says. Not to forget that living costs in the cities have surged and it makes sense for the workers to live alone and send more money back home for the family.

All this has had some positive impact. While NSSO latest data suggests that the income gap between rural and urban households have widened in the last five years. The percentage gap has gone up from 80% in 2004-05 to 91% in 2009-10. But in absolute terms, rural incomes have gone up and are powering consumption there, which has grown almost at par with the urban Indians, according to the NSSO data. The rural per capita consumption grew 6% in 2009-10 (1.2% in 2004-05) as against urban per capita consumption which rose by 6.8% in 2009-10 (2.9% in 2004-05).

The impact of all this is visible in some of the villages. "Women are far more visible on the farms today than they were in the past," says Sivakumar. They are also visible in jobs that were primarily a man's domain earlier, like spraying, harvesting etc, he adds. Also, it is not unusual to see a few retail shops in villages managed by women - a rarity in the past.

ASSOCHAM flays poor logistic support for steel industry

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM)  has advocated the importance of laying slurry pipelines to transport iron ore and coal for the steel industry which is cost effective and environment friendly.

Voicing concern over poor logistics infrastructure for supply of iron ore and coal for the steel industry, the apex business body said said slurry pipelines should be included in the list of industries with infrastructure status to address bulk transportation needs of the sector.

Moving iron ore and coal by pipelines in slurry form has advantages like low operating costs, higher availability and environment friendly. Existing railway lines are almost reaching a saturation point, ASSOCHAM said in a statement. 

“While augmenting railways infrastructure is important, slurry pipelines may eventually re-invent raw material transportation for the iron and steel industry,” it said in recommendations for the National Steel Policy being formulated. In 2008, the Planning Commission included pipelines for water and oil and gas eligible for infrastructure status but slurry pipelines were not, despite being recommended by the Rangarajan Committee.

The chamber said road and rail connectivity at the Braganza Ghat section near Goa must be doubled as the port’s capacity is being expanded manifold. Rail connectivity from Jaigarh port should be provided up to Kohlapur so that steel manufacturing units in Hospet Bellary region can benefit.

The ports proposed on Karnataka coast will depend on completion of Hubli-Ankola and Talguppa-Honavar rail lines to service the steel industry efficiently. ASSOCHAM said smaller ports too need to be provided with four-lane highways so that movement of imported coking coal can be improved.

“Finished steel products need to be moved expeditiously from the plants to ports as dynamic market conditions place heavy strains on logistic systems to deliver products to consumers in the shortest possible time at economical costs.”

Development of national highway 63 and state highways connecting Bellary to Chitradurga, Hubli and Solapur will allow multi-axle load vehicles to speedily move freight of finished steel to south India, it said.

Indians need 500 mn houses in ten years: FICCI

New Delhi: As many as half a billion Indians would require new homes in the country's various cities over the next decade, a requirement equivalent to all of China, North America and Western Europe put together, according to a FICCI report.

The report 'Urban Infrastructure in India', prepared by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), said the country's population is slated to grow to 1.7 billion by 2050 and rapid urbanisation will add nearly 900 million people to Indian cities.

"City capacity will need to grow nearly 400 per cent in less than 50 years. This is the scale of urbanisation and urban infrastructure needs India has to contend with in the face of grossly inadequate urban infrastructure to meet the demands of the existing urban population," it said.

There is insurmountable pressure on civic infrastructure systems such as water supply, sewerage and drainage and solid waste management, a PTI report quoting FICCI, said.

Highlighting the deficiencies in the urban infrastructure procurement process, the report said that Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and government procurement in relation to urban infrastructure focuses more on construction of the facility rather than on the long-term operation and maintenance of the facility.
Maintaining that Indian ULBs have a weak fiscal and financial base that hampers their ability to provide efficient services to citizens, the industry body said that, "There is no framework governing or providing for maintenance of common spaces, particularly areas such as markets, housing colonies, bridges, footpaths, street lighting, play-grounds, common green and open areas."

Urban infrastructure, more than any other sector, faces the drag of multiple authorities having jurisdiction over different aspects of the same infrastructure facility, it added. "We have to rethink the way we live or there is no tomorrow," FICCI’s Urban Development Committee Chairman, Pradeep Puri said.

It recommended that government authorities shift the focus of their contracts for new facilities from merely construction works contracts to performance-based maintenance contracts under which the scope and obligations of the contractor would be mentioned.

"Undertake maintenance of the facility for a minimum number of years; and link disbursement of money evenly over the period of construction/maintenance," it added.

Indian planning norms have been borrowed mainly from the West and need important modifications, it said, adding there should be a 'Mission on Urban Planning'.

India wakes up to plastic roads

Using plastic wastes for laying roads is fast catching up among Indian cities and Indian government is mulling to formulate national level policy to use the technology on highways roads.

 Though several cities in India have banned usage of plastics, the disposal of a large quantity of non-biodegradable wastes being accumulated daily has become a challenging task for the governments and a worrying factor for environmentalists. Though re-cycling of plastics is addressing the issues to certain extent, it’s still lot to done. Using waste plastic materials to lay roads is a new concept, fast catching up in India.

Tamil Nadu has become a pioneer in using this technology invented by Chemistry professor Vasudevan of Thiagarajar College of Engineering in Madurai. Now, encouraged by the use of plastic in road laying in Tamil Nadu, the Centre is mulling a national level policy on its usage on national highways and other state highway roads. Mumbai too has tested plastics on road laying and found it to be a viable solution for frequent re-laying of roads after every monsoon.

"Using plastic in laying roads will increase the life of roads. We have to prepare a national level policy on this. We are talking over this," Environment and Forests Minister Jayanthi Natarajan told reporters on the sidelines of the seventh national meet of state biodiversity boards here.

Chennai Corporation had launched a programme to use plastic in laying roads.

The National Rural Roads Development Agency (NRRDA) has formulated guidelines for the use of plastic waste in rural roads construction. With the help of research carried by Prof. Vasudevan, Prof. Justo and Prof. Veeraragavan at Bangalore University and research carried out by Scientist at CRRI, New Delhi, NRRDA has built several trial roads using waste plastic.  

Such roads, popularly known as Plastic Roads, are found to perform better compared to those constructed with conventional bitumen. Further it has been found that such roads were not subjected to stripping when come in contact with water. With the experience gained over the years of construction of roads using waste plastic, CRRI as well as TCE have firmed up the specifications for the use of waste plastic and shared the specifications with organizations willing to construct the roads with waste plastic.

The guidelines were formed based on the presentations made by Dr. Sangita, Sr. Scientist, Flexible Pavement Division, CRRI and the literature supplied by Dr. R. Vasudevan.

Types of waste plastic, which can be used in the construction of rural roads can be classified as films, carry bags, cups, hard foams, soft foams, laminated plastics and packing materials used for biscuits, chocolates, etc.

Method of road laying

Dry process is recommended for isolated works. It is recommended that the percentage of shredded waste plastic will be 8% by Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), while the same is specified as 10% by Dr. Vasudevan. However we can adopt 8% as the optimum plastic content for blending the bitumen in the construction of plastic roads. The details of the process are given below. Bitumen of grades 60/70 or 80/100 can be used as binder as in case of conventional method, NRRDA said in a report.

With mini hot mix plant

 

The stone aggregate mix (as per specification) is transferred to the mix cylinder where it is heated to 165⁰c (as per the IRC specification) and then it is transferred to the mixing puddler(Temperature can be monitored using IR thermometer), while transferring the hot aggregate into the puddler, calculated quantity of shredded plastics is sprayed over the hot aggregate within 30seconds. The sprayed plastic films melts and gets coated over the aggregate, thus forming an oily coating.

Similarly, the bitumen is to be heated to a maximum of 160⁰c in a separate chamber and kept ready (The temperature should be monitored to have good binding and to prevent weak bonding).

At the mixing puddler, the hot bitumen is added over the plastic coated aggregate and the resulted mix is used for road construction. The road laying temperature is between 110⁰c to 120⁰c. The roller used is normal 8-ton capacity.

Advantages of plastic roads

·          

A well constructed plastic tar road will result in the following advantages.

·         Strength of the road increased (Increased  Marshall Stability Value)

·         Better resistance to water and water stagnation

·         No stripping and have no potholes.

·         Increased binding and better bonding of the mix.

·         Increased load withstanding property( Withstanding increased load transport)

·         Overall consumption of bitumen decreases.

·         Reduction in pores in aggregate and hence less rutting and raveling.

·         Better soundness property.

·         Maintenance cost of the road is almost nil.

·         The Road life period is substantially increased.

·         No leaching of plastics.

Yesudas now sings different tune for SRK Properties

Popular playback singer and Padmabhushan Dr K J Yesudas, has backed out from being the brand ambassador of SRK Properties, a Pune/Kochi-based real estate, alleging that he has lost his money in their projects. The company has earned the wrath of the NRI investors in the recent times for not honoring their contractual terms. However, the group continues to use the veteran singer’s name in their promotional campaigns, according to the company website.

SRK Group’s website says, “Convinced about our eco-friendly construction policies and general outlook on life, the ambassador of music, Padma Bhushan K J Yesudas agreed to do us the honour by being the brand ambassador of SRK. And along with him, the who's who in the music industry came to give us their support. This is a rare honour which we, at SRK, as a corporate company are proud of.”

Meanwhile, Yesudas, who is in Dubai to promote a new concert to celebrate his 50 years in the music industry, said: “I am not associated with the SRK Group anymore and I have already informed them not to use my name in promoting their properties. I have also lost some money in their projects.”

“I have informed them to remove my name from their publicity material and not to consider me as their brand ambassador. I have given them a specific period to remove all references to me in their publicity material and if they don’t comply with my request, I will go public against them,” Yesudas, said, reports emirates247.com.

However, K Rashid Malik, Chairman and Managing Director, SRK Group, on his recent visit to Dubai, said: “Yesudas is still our brand ambassador and we continue discussions with him to continue his association with SRK Group.”

Manohar, an NRI investor in Dubai, said: "It is strange that such respected personalities from the entertainment industry are endorsing products and services about which they don’t know anything. When they lend their name against such firms they should be careful. Many of my NRI friends have lost in property investment because they believed what the celebrities said in the promotional videos and advertisement campaigns. Yesudas knows about music.  He should not talk about real estate or property development."

Meanwhile, SRK Group that failed to deliver some of its projects on time, said it is resuming the Skywing Project in Kochi, Kerala. The Group has completed projects outside Kerala, especially in Bangalore. However, its biggest township project in Kochi has been marred by delays and the financial crisis that hit overseas Indian investors. Out of 250 NRI investors who have booked flats with the SRK Group, about 150 have cancelled their contracts with the company.

Hundreds of NRI investors from the South Indian state of Kerala have lost heavily in such dubious projects and many angry investors blame media and brand ambassadors who attracted them to such projects.
Apple a Day Properties, another duboious real estate developer, which came out with colourful brochures and live music concerts in hotel rooms in Dubai and Abu Dhabi had projected a famous female singer from Kerala as its brand ambassador.

K S Chithra, MG Sreekumar and other prominent South Indian celebrities have been endorsing several projects and companies, some of which turned out to be a severe loss making proposing for the common investors. Hundreds of construction companies from Kerala, have been hard hit by the Apple a Day Property scandal, prompting an investigation by the state government about abandoned and incomplete projects sold to NRI investors.

About 130 NRIs from the UAE have lodged police complaints in Kerala against promoters of Apple A Day Properties, a builder who has conducted marketing road shows in various hotels in the UAE and collected money promising to sell flats, but did not deliver them.

Promoters of Apple A Day Property have surrendered to police and the state government promised NRIs that a special investigation team will be sent to the UAE for further inquiries. They have formed an “Apple A Day Properties Victims Group,” in the UAE to fight the case in India. This group of NRIs in the UAE have served legal notices and police complaints against a property developer and approached the Indian Government and a consumer court in India seeking to track down promoters of an Indian construction company that allegedly failed to deliver five-star apartments with seven-star facilities, two years after the promised date.

Realty markets booming in Asia-Pacific region: GIA

The global commercial real estate market is recovering steadily due to increased availability of capital and resurgence in manufacturing activity. However, the residential market continues to remain sluggish, particularly in few developed countries. On the other hand, construction boom in the housing and commercial property sector is driving real estate investments in Asia-Pacific region, according to a research report titled "Real Estate: A Global Outlook" announced by Global Industry Analysts.

The global economic recession dented prospects in the construction sector due to stringent credit conditions and decreased business confidence. Residential buildings segment remained depressed due to high unemployment rates, while industrial and commercial properties witnessed drop in occupancy rates, tenant demand, and rentals, the report titled ‘Real Estate: A Global Outlook’.

 

Mentioning that the residential housing market has registered reduced home ownerships, new constructions and eroding of property values, the report said, global real estate market is slowly recovering from the economic recession driven by strengthening fundamentals, increased capital availability and availability of alternative sources of finance. Improved business spending, revival in manufacturing activity and increased capital flows in real estate market are expected to bestow steady growth prospects in the global real estate market, GIA, an independent global analyst,  said in its report.

Recession effect

With the effect of recession ebbing, the real estate and construction industry recovered in few US markets and strong resurgence witnessed in Canada and China. However, a number of owners of commercial or home properties are expected to continue facing difficult conditions as the value of properties is still below the cost of purchase, and various mortgage debts are at higher levels than the value of underlying properties. Commercial mortgage foreclosures and delinquencies are also expected to continue affecting the industry.

On a corporate level, the industry is expected to witness consolidation of development and construction firms, which would primarily focus on debt reduction, cost control, as well as risk management. Investments in transportation, education facilities, highways, healthcare facilities, and government offices would provide opportunities to commercial construction firms, the survey report further said.

While European real estate markets are being beleaguered by a number of challenges such as austerity measures imposed by struggling economies, market regulations, weak credit markets and a looming sovereign debt crisis, concerns over struggling economies such as Spain, Portugal and Italy continue to dog the market, the report said. 

Despite the prevailing grim market situation, availability of equity is expected to increase in future with funds flowing in from foreign investors, private equity funds and institutions. However, most of the investment is expected to be directed towards large economically robust cities such as Paris and London. 

Asian realty

Real estate industry across Asian countries is witnessing robust growth owing to the buoyant economies. Some of the major real estate markets in Asia include China, Australia, New Zealand, India, Hong Kong, Thailand and Vietnam. Increasing purchasing power of people and increased commercial construction activity favor growth in the region's real estate industry.

About Global Industry Analysts

Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (GIA) is a leading publisher of off-the-shelf market research. Founded in 1987, the company currently employs over 800 people worldwide. Annually, GIA publishes more than 1300 full-scale research reports and analyzes 40,000+ market and technology trends while monitoring more than 126,000 Companies worldwide.  GIA serves over 9500 clients in 27 countries.