Gujarat to have four more airports

Fly out: Scene at Ahmadabad Airport

In a bid to strengthen infrastructure and also to promote religious  tourism, Gujarat is planning to build four more airports simultaneously, which will add to its already 17 functional airports.  Seventeen top consultancy firms including Ernst and Young, Mott MacDonald, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Edges India have shown interest in developing these airports.

On Monday, these firms submitted bids for the proposed airports that can handle mid-sized airplanes at Palitana, Ambaji, Dwarka and Ankleshwar. Officials from state aviation department told Indian Express that this was a technical bidding and by February 15, the evaluation report will be released which will pave the way for financial bidding.

At present, the state has 17 airports (excluding the two at Daman and Diu), which makes it having the largest number of operational airports in the country.

“Gujarat is going to be the first state to start developing four airports at one go. The purpose is to boost religious tourism as well as providing infrastructure for the industries,” said Ajay Chauhan, director of state’s civil aviation department.

The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has already cleared the techno-economic feasibility report for the airfields located at Dwarka in Jamnagar and Ambaji in Banaskantha district, both famous destinations for Hindu pilgrims, Palitana in Bhavnagar district known for Jain pilgrimage and Ankleshwar, an industrial hub in South Gujarat.

According to state aviation officials, the construction of the airports will be taken up in phases. In the first phase spanning two years, the construction of the airports is likely to be completed to make them operational. Afterwards, the airports may be upgraded depending on the requirement.

In a bid to boost the aviation industry in the state, the state government slashed the tax levied on air turbine fuel from 30% to 5% in 2011 to attract airlines for starting intra-state air-connectivity. There is also a budgetary provision of Rs 12.70 crore for the development of airports in the state.

THB to build 2600 flats for poor at Foreshore Estate

CHENNAI: Brushing aside the growing resentment about converting the sea-looking Foreshore Estate in Chennai to residential and commercial space, the Tamil Nadu Housing Board (THB) has floated tenders to appoint a consultant to prepare a detailed project report for redevelopment of the Estate into a residential colony.

The Board plans to construct 2,600 flats in multi-storied residential complexes at Foreshore Estate, overlooking the famous Marina beach. In the first phase, 1,610 flats will be constructed on 21.03 acres and in the second phase, construction of 990 flats will be taken up on 6.49 acres. To develop the second phase, 268 existing flats will have to be vacated and razed, according to a Times of India report.

The Board had evicted more than 1,000 families from the Foreshore Estate two years ago to facilitate the redevelopment. The old buildings, promoted in the 1960s, were in a dilapidated condition and were pulled down to avert a disaster.

The consultant, apart from responsible for marketing strategy of the project, will also have to do the structural design of the building in line with the ‘seismic zoning’ of the area.

Facilities like fire fighting, safety devices, public address, access control, telephone exchange, communication tower, water supply, furnishing fit out, sewerage disposal and treatment plants, internal roads and arrangements for special security system will be available on the premises once it is redeveloped.

Five types of apartments will be constructed in the first phase. "We will construct 30 houses each with 1,800 sq ft and 250 houses each with an area of 1,440 sq ft," a senior TNHB official said. Another 200 houses will have an area of 1,080 sq ft each. In the low-end segments, 680 apartments will measure 780 sq ft each and 450 apartments will measure 648 sq ft each.

The earlier tenants of the housing board apartments would be given preferential allotment, said sources.

On opposite side

Earlier, the state's plan to commercialise a portion of the Foreshore Estate and Srinivasapuram areas off Marina coast ran into stiff opposition from city-based activists and representatives of fishing community, alleging government’s attempt to eliminate fishing community from coastal areas.

The state government with the support of Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Finance Services Limited (TNUIFSL) had prepared a conceptual plan for the integrated development of Foreshore Estate and Srinivasapuram last year. The plan is to create housing on 23 acres of land by both Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) and Housing Board (TNHB) and use the remaining 27 acres for commercial purposes. 

At present, a part of the land is occupied by slums and old dilapidated tenements/apartments (partly demolished). According to K Saravanan, an RTI activist and resident of Orur Kuppam, the redevelopment plan was only a bid to remove the fishing community from the coast. "There are more than 7,000 families and a majority of them — of fishing community — staying in the Foreshore Estate and Srinivasapuram have been identified as encroachers. If the government can allot 27 acres for commercial ventures, why can't the same land be taken for the accommodation of the poor?" he asked.

MG Devasahayam, founder-trustee, SUSTAIN, said the government should not destroy the coastal line by allowing construction of high-rise building. These kind of plans must be considered by the statutory bodies like CMDA or local body, not by private-sector promotional agencies. He released a report Robbing the Poor: Slum Housing and the Elite Environmentalism of Adyar Poonga at Besant Nagar.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/2600-new-flats-to-come-up-at-Foreshore-Estate/articleshow/11561200.cms

Construction firms on recruitment spree

Is the real estate industry in India really booming? If reports suggesting large scale recruitment being planned by property bigwigs this year to be believed, the industry, not affected by the current economic scenario at the global and local levels, is on a recruitment spree to take on board hundreds of technical and marketing professionals, anticipating a possible rebound.

After the tumultuous 2011 marked by series of interest rate revisions by Reserve Bank of India, builders are pinning their hopes on RBI softening interest rates, which will prompt home buyers to return to the market. The real estate industry is also expecting regulatory issues, which are holding up growth in key markets like Mumbai and New Delhi, will be resolved soon, according to a ET report .

As unsold residential space mounting pressure on the builders, prompting to adopt new marketing technique to empty their inventories. Nearly 985 million sq ft of residential space is due for delivery between 2011 and 2013 in existing projects, says real estate data and analytics provider, PropEquity.
"To execute the amount of space they have sold, developers will have to double their bandwidth," says Samir Jasuja, chief executive officer at PropEquity. In comparison, only about 522 million sq ft was delivered in 2008-10. In Mumbai, the financial capital of India, very few new project approvals have come through in 2011 and the new government is working on the new development guidelines for the city. In Delhi’s National Capital Region (NCR), land acquisition problems in Greater Noida have hampered construction of about 100,000 apartments.

Last year, the Allahabad High Court had asked the Greater Noida Authority to return acquired land to the farmers, but late during the year, it finally decided on higher compensation for farmers to settle the issue. After the clarity on Development Control Rules, the number of project launches in Mumbai could move up significantly resulting in greater project-related hiring.

Construction work in Greater Noida too is expected to resume when the NCR planning board gives its approval. Nearly 930,000 residential units are to be delivered across the country between 2011 and 2013, says PropEquity. And developers need a large number of people - working in construction and marketing - if it plans to achieve this target. "Once construction work resumes, we should be hiring another 35% additional staff to meet our requirements and deliver the apartments in the next two-three years," says Shiv Priya, from Amrapali Developers.

According to the Confederation of Real Estate Developer's Association of India CREDAI) estimates, developers across the country will do an additional hiring of at least 15% in 2012. Unitech, which had faced double whammy last year due to 2G spectrum scam and real estate debacle, has plans for recruitments to sell their already launched projects across the country.

The group has plans to increase employee strength by 15-20% in FY 2012-13. "In the first quarter, the growth will be 5% and 10-15% in the remaining three quarters. We plan to recruit people for design and architecture, sales, construction, CRM and property-management," says Ajay Chandra, managing director of Unitech.

"New recruitment is estimated to increase by 20% led by civil engineers, project managers, and most importantly, by sales and marketing teams," says Paras Gundecha, president of the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry. Real estate companies across the country are increasing their hiring budgets. Bangalore-based Sobha Developers, for instance, has increased its budget by 15% and plans to double its employee strength.

"We have launched big projects, and need to ensure that they get completed on time. We expect the real estate market to further pick up with interest rates and inflation likely to come down," says JC Sharma, managing director of Sobha Developers. Another Bangalore-based developer Prestige Group will add 25% more in 2012-13 to its current staff strength of 400. "We will hire to support our construction and deliver on time," says Milan Khurana, chief human resource officer at Prestige Group. "Most of the fresh recruitment will be linked to approvals and launch of new projects," says Jagan Mohan, vice president, human resources, at Brigade Group.

According to staffing firm TeamLease, most of the hiring is happening at the entry level, especially by larger players who have a considerable number of projects under construction. "There is huge requirement at the entry level but companies are not investing too much on hiring managerial and senior level staff," says Rituparna Chakraborty, senior vice president, TeamLease Services.

Will these recruitments by construction firms help them post profit this fiscal? Only time will tell.

CIDC trains over 200 NE youths for construction jobs

Agartala: More than 200 educated and poor youths of Northeast have been trained in the last two years under a Central government scheme to create jobs in various construction trades.

The Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC) has so far trained 252 youths while 101 are undergoing training and counselling under the Capacity Building and Technical Assistance (CBTA) scheme.

So far, all 252 trained youths have been offered placements and 118 of them have accepted this in various construction trades.

"The training programme provides for 20 percent classroom (theoretical) and 80 percent hands-on practice at a 'live work site' to enable trainees to learn skills required in construction," the ministry of development of north eastern region (DoNER) said in a statement here.

The Planning Commission jointly with the Indian construction industry set up the CIDC two years back to take up activities for the development of the industry.
The training is provided keeping in mind latest technological developments and advancements in the construction sector to make the youth gain meaningful employment, the statement said.

The main objective of the programme is to impart training to candidates from the northeastern region in various construction trades. The DoNER Ministry has so far released Rs 77.47 lakh to the CIDC to undertake the training. The programme is of three months and weekly performance tests are conducted followed by final examination.

PM promises to solve crisis in power sector

The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh today assured the private players in the power sector that a “practical, pragmatic and viable solution” will be found to the plethora of problems facing the power generation and distribution sector.

After hearing the captains of industry led by Ratan Tata and Anil Ambani at his residence in Delhi, the Prime Minister said that a secretary level committee chaired by his Principal Secretary will suggest a roadmap to a time-bound solution to the short term problems impinging on the power sector, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said.

The committee will suggest the way forward on the most important issues raised by a delegation of Association of Power Producers. The Prime Minister underlined that the power sector is involved in the process of nation building and there is a need to reduce risks to make the power projects viable. He said it’s a national challenge and asked the industry representatives not to lose heart.

He assured the delegation of his government’s commitment in taking all possible steps to mitigate the problems being faced by the power sector. He also directed his cabinet colleagues present at the meeting to make all out efforts to resolve the key issues impacting the power sector. Those present included, Power Minister, Sushil kumar Shinde, Coal Minister Prakash Jaiswal, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Minister of State (Independent Charge), Environment and Forests, Jayanti Natrajan.

The high-profile delegation included Ashok Hinduja, Vedanta, Chairman Anil Agarwal, Prashant Ruia of the Essar group, GMR's GM Rao, Gautam Adani, Sajjan and Naveen Jindal as well as Lanco Infratech chairman Madhusudan Rao and GVK Group's Sanjay Reddy.

The industrialists also visited these ministers as well as Finance Minister Prabab Mukherjee and Oil Minister Jaipal Reddy. The industrialists are seeking higher supply of coal and natural gas, faster environmental clearances, distribution reforms, greater access to funds, and support for ultra mega power projects that are in trouble because imported coal prices have risen sharply making their operations unviable.

Construction Equipment Market to Grow by 20%

NOIDA: With several global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) foraying into Indian construction space through joint ventures, the Indian construction equipment market is expected to witness a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 20% year-on-year during 2011-2015.

RNCOS, a market research consulting Services Company, in its latest research report “Booming Construction Equipment Market in India” said due to the impact of joint ventures and collaborations by global construction equipment manufacturers in India, the industry is poised for big growth in the years to come. “The industry is expected to witness a CAGR of 20% during FY 2011-2015,” said the report.

The construction equipment industry in India witnessed a consistent growth in the past few years despite the global economic crisis. Supported by the government's favorable policies, the infrastructure and construction projects in the country are increasing, the study noted.

The report, spread over 45 pages, provides a comprehensive research and rational analysis of the current status and expected position of the construction equipment market in India. It meticulously examines the prominent emerging trends and drivers, which are fueling growth in the industry. Highlighting major segments, such as earth moving, and material handling, the report also facilitates the future outlook for rental and equipment financing in India.

Some of the key findings of the report are: India’s earth moving sector to register an impressive growth over the next few years; Construction equipment rental business in India is all set to enter a crucial growth phase; Market for after sale services to capture the untapped space in India and Construction equipment financing market has huge potential.

About RNCOS

RNCOS specialises in Industry intelligence and creative solutions for contemporary business segments. ur professionals analyze the industry and its various components, with a comprehensive study of the changing market behavior. Our accuracy and data precision proves beneficial in terms of pricing and time management that assist the intending consultants in meeting their objectives in a cost-effective and timely manner.

Plans afoot to convert Omandurar complex to hospital

Chennai: Political turmoil and legal implications notwithstanding over the conversion of DMK-built new secretariat Omandurar Government Estate, the AIADMK government has made elaborate plans to convert one block of the complex into a multi-super specialty hospital.

The buildings wing of the Public Works Department has floated tenders and the total estimated cost of the proposed civil and electrical works has been fixed around Rs. 26.9 crore, according to a Hindu report.

The last dates for submission of various tender documents will be January 24 and 25. Sources say the government is keen on finalising the award of contracts expeditiously so that the works can be taken up immediately.
Plan in details According to the plans, the ground and first floors of the Block ‘A' will serve as outpatient wards for departments such as Oncology, Cardiology and Neurology. The second floor will house laboratories and other facilities for diagnosis.

The third and fourth floors will be used as general wards. The fifth and sixth floors of the block will be for special wards. Two floors of the public plaza located on the south-western side of the estate will be modified to accommodate operation theatres, intensive care units and recovery wards.

Besides this, tenders have also been invited for modifying the existing passenger lifts into patient-cum-passenger lifts. As per the original plan of the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government, the Secretariat-Assembly complex would have two blocks – seven–storey Block A with 97,829 square metres and eight-storey Block B with 73,399 square metres.

On assumption of office in May last, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government decided to shift the Secretariat back to Fort St. George.
Then, a handful of departments of the government were functioning at the complex. In August, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa announced her government's decision to convert the new Secretariat-Assembly complex into a multi-super specialty hospital-cum-medical college.

While Block A would accommodate the hospital, the incomplete Block B would house the proposed medical college. Subsequently, officials of the Health and Public Works Departments went to different parts of the country to study the design of leading hospitals, after which the proposals were drawn up, the report further added.