Some of such companies are:

Textile company Arvind announced a residential complex across an area of 10,00,000 sq ft in Ahmedabad, in partnership with B Safal Group.

Cable Corporation of India (CCI) plans a project in the western India. The project is located in Borivali area of Mumbai and will be a project worth Rs. 1000 cr.

Usha Martin, the steel wire maker recently launched a residential project in Boisar, on the outskirts of Mumbai, and also plans to come up with more such projects in Bangalore and Pune.

Golden Tobacco and Hindustan Composite are next on the list who have not exactly launched projects but have sold their lands to Wadhwa group and Sheth Developer respectively for real estate projects.

Similarly, Reliance Group, Bombay Dyeing and Century Textiles etc are entering into this market.

Thus, conclusion can be drawn that the manufacturing companies are now hitting the realty market.

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) is taking a step that would to some extent wash away the sins committed by civic planners leading to a disorderly growth. For the first time, the AMC would be practising, what they call, micro zoning in the area under Sabarmati riverfront project influence.

It means that the size and height of buildings will be governed by the existing skyline of that spot. The planners hope to create a “pleasing to the eye” effect when the multi-crore riverfront project is ready. The procedure does not involve scripting a new Floor Space Index (FSI) regulations for the area, but within the ambit of the existing development control regulations, the town planning department would decide the height of the buildings located close to the riverfront.

This would pertain to only upcoming projects along the riverfront influence zone. 18 micro zones have been earmarked around the riverfront.What the department would be looking at is a general distribution and pattern of building heights. This would in turn establish clear definition to the project edges and create a contextual relationship to the riverfront and its surroundings.

“Though the state urban development department would bring out a separate set of regulation for the riverfront, we are trying to set the house in order outside the riverfront area. Once the riverfront comes up every body would want to bring down their old constructions to make way for skyscrapers. We cannot allow such haphazard development anymore around it,” says a senior official of Sabarmati riverfront development corporation limited (SRFDCL).

“Public plazas and streetscape orient the development to the river and establish direct connections to the surrounding neighbourhoods and business districts. A haphazard development can ruin this. One also needs to look into the existing infrastructure at Ashram road, the drainage lines and other civic amenities in the area.” adds the SRFDCL official.

The basic purpose of the riverfront is the creation of large public spaces. The site will include a high-density, mixed-use development that responds to the surrounding areas. This also includes use of building height and architectural facade to highlight significant public spaces in the riverfront.

The M&M group will build the SEZ under a public private partnership (PPP) model.

Mahindra Lifespaces, the infrastructure and real estate arm of the $7.1-billion Mahindra Group, is in preliminary dialogue with the Karnataka government for developing the aerospace SEZ.

M&M, which forayed into the aviation sector with the acquisition of two companies in Australia to manufacture aircraft, recently opened a new component-making facility at Malur on the outskirts of Bangalore. The Karnataka government has plans of setting up the second SEZ focused on the aviation sector.

The first facility has already come up in Belgaum, which is an aerospace engineering and manufacturing SEZ by QuEST Global.

The Karnataka government signed MoUs with a couple of companies who have shown plans of investing in the aerospace sector at the SEZ in Devanahalli.

BEML is planning a Rs316-crore facility in the designated zone to provide design & manufacturing services in aircraft components, sub-assemblies and MRO activities. Dynamatic Technologies plans to invest Rs465-crore to set up aerospace component unit and Starracheckert Machine Tools also plans to invest Rs127-crore for the same.

Such projects will be allowed if undertaken by government agencies in joint ventures with private developers. A housing stock of about 5 lakh houses, in prime areas with views of the coastline, could be made available thus in the coming years.

There are 150 slum clusters and 4,000 old and dilapidated buildings in the CRZ II area from Versova in the western suburbs to Cuffe Parade in the island city. The Centre has agreed to allow redevelopment of these structures by government agencies in collaboration with private players.

The existing Development Control Rules prior to 1991 had put a cap on the use of FSI: 1.3 in CRZ II. Now this has been relaxed and the FSI prevailing in the area of redevelopment can be used.

The Centre’s draft CRZ rules, 2010, allowed for redevelopment of dwellings in areas affected by CRZ-II norms, but with the rider that only government agencies could undertake such projects.

According to the DTC revised draft, units coming up in SEZs after the implementation of the Code from April 1, 2011, would not get I-T holiday.

Many SEZ developers, including infrastructure major GMR, have written to Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister, Anand Sharma, Commerce and Industry Minister, and State Chief Ministers about their concerns on the adverse impact of DTC on their SEZ projects.

Ajay Nijhawan, Convenor, Export Promotion Council for EOUs and SEZs Panel for SEZ Developers, said, “At stake is around Rs30,000-crore worth exposure that banks and financial institutions have to SEZ projects under different stages of development. Many of these SEZs are awaiting new units to come up. If the benefits provided by the SEZ Act are taken away, these loans could turn non-performing assets.”

The SEZ Developers’ Association of India has also written to Mr Mukherjee that if tax benefits are not given to new units, there would be migration of economic activity to other countries, in turn resulting in loss to India.

The Association said if tax benefits are withdrawn, no new unit will come up in SEZs, adding that developers will lose huge investments made in land and infrastructure if companies do not set up units.

The DTC draft states that it would protect profit-linked deductions for developers and existing units in SEZs for the `unexpired’ period. But the Finance Ministry is against tax breaks for new units. It favours investment-linked deductions.

The SEZ Act provides developers 100 per cent I-T exemption for a block of consecutive 10 years of the first 15 years. It also grants units total I-T exemption on export profits for the first five years, and 50 per cent exemption for the next five years.

The Rs400-crore compensation announced by Posco India for Orissa, is expected to benchmark industry relief in the country. The package will benefit over 2000 encroachers and landless labourers at the Posco site. While Rs100-crore will be provided for the acquisition of government and private land, Rs100-crore will be given towards building a rehabilitation colony and Rs200-crore as compensation to encroachers of government land.

While fixing the price of private land at Rs17-lakh per acre, the Rehabilitation and Periphery Development Advisory Committee (RPDAC) for the Posco project announced a compensation of Rs11.5-lakh an acre for the loss of betel vines, most of which are on government land. There are about 1,877 betel vines in the site covering 300 acres. Landless labourers working in the betel vines will get 20 per cent of the total compensation for the loss, which is over and above the amount paid to the owners of the areas where betel is grown.

Similarly, RPDAC has prescribed assistance of Rs2-lakh per acre for owners of the prawn gheris — most of which are operating on government land — and Rs 1 lakh an acre for farmers using government land for agriculture.

If airports are an indication of a country’s economic progress, then India has certainly arrived on the world stage. While China may have been the first to draw world attention by building state-of-the-art transport systems, its Asian neighbour is now catching up, projecting the new, swanky Terminal 3 (T3) at IGI as an example of country’s growing prosperity and confidence. Integrated T3 will be opened for passengers in mid-July.

Three years after the foundation stone was laid in February 2007, T3 will be inaugurated by PM Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on July 3. T3 boasts of being the eighth largest passenger terminal in the world, equipped to handle 34 million passengers annually. The new terminal, with spacious interiors, once operational will cater to over half of Delhi’s air traffic. Foreigners arriving at the airport will immediately get a feel of India — the country’s cultures will be showcased through graphic designs on the walls and unique installation arts.

The complex has been constructed using ‘North Light’ concept that maximizes illumination while cutting down on solar gain. According to GMR backed Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the civil structural works at all nine levels of the terminal building have been completed.

Passenger comfort is top priority here. The in-line baggage handling system (BHS) has a capacity to handle 12,800 bags per hour. Passengers will no longer have to get their baggage screened by themselves. They just have to submit their baggage at the airline counter from where it will undergo five levels of checks. “If bags are not cleared till the third screening level, they will be sent to the CTX machine which does a 360 degree study of the contents. If the bag does not clear this screening also, then it goes for manual screening,” said a DIAL official. BHS has an automatic bag tag reader which captures the information on each individual bag which is stored in the sort allocation computer and the baggage data is made available at any point of time.

For shopaholics, 20,000 sq. m. of retail area offers duty-free stores. Passengers will get the feel of a shopping mall inside the terminal with the best of Indian and international brands. Lounges, nap and shower rooms have been added along with popular eateries. Spread across a footprint of 5.4 million sq. ft., the building has sprawling piers which measure 1.2 km. from one end to the other.

DIAL has engaged Munich Airport International (MUC), the experts in Operational Readiness and Airport Transfer (ORAT) programme, for trials and transfer of airport operations to T3. Outside, a multi-level car parking in front of the terminal building is touted as the answer to the airport’s parking woes. With a capacity of 4300 cars, this is the largest multi-level car parking facility in India. A separate surface parking area is also available for 2200 cars. To ease the approach to terminal and travel through the city, Metro line from city centre will also be operational by September 2010. By the end of landscaping work, over 9 lakh trees and plants will also be planted here.

In a move that will indirectly benefit developers, the state urban development department has issued a notification that will give them 25% more floor space index (FSI) if they agree to construct a road on a portion of the land that they have surrendered to the BMC. This is over and above the 100% FSI benefit that they receive for handing over the plot for such a project.

The new amendment, carried out in Regulation 33 (1) of the Development Control Rules, 1991, states that when the property owner develops or constructs the road on the surrendered land at his cost, he may be granted an additional FSI equal to 25% of the area for this construction. However, the notification clarifies that this modification will not apply in cases where road FSI has been utilised and occupation certificate granted.

Moreover, the 25% additional FSI will be allotted to a developer only after he meets all stipulations prescribed by the civic authority. The pre-modified regulation did not have any such provision of granting FSI to developers who construct road on the plot of land surrendered for such purpose.

Under the old regulation, the commissioner only had powers to grant 100% FSI to any developer who surrendered his land for road-widening or road construction without claiming any compensation. This provision has been retained in the notification that was issued on June 17.

Criticising the notification, architect Nitin Killawala of JVPD Association said, “The government has come out with yet another innovative method to dole out FSI benefit to developers. One cannot understand why the country’s richest municipal corporation is shying away from its responsibility of carrying out road development work from its own coffers.”

The Practising Engineers’, Architects’ and Town Planners’ Association (PEATA) had approached the authorities asking them to modify the DC Rules. Justifying the new notification, PEATA’s president Ajit Khatri said, “With this amendment, the authorities have corrected a major anomaly in the DC rules.”

Recommended way back in 1970, the Western Freeway sea link’s second part, Worli-Haji Ali Sea Link (WHSL), was finally put into execution mode by the state government on June 28 evening. The project, supposed to be ready in 42 months starting from December 2010, promises to cut down on the travel time between Bandra and Haji Ali from 60 minutes to 13 minutes as the proposed bridge will bypass 27 traffic signals in stretch between Bandra and Haji Ali.

Currently, over 48,000 vehicles use the Bandra Worli Sea link every day and experts feel that the figure will increase to 1.20 lakh per day after the Haji Ali part is commissioned. The consortium of Reliance Sea Link One Private Ltd (RSLOPL) and Hyundai Engineering and Construction Pvt Ltd. on June 28 signed an agreement with state agency MSRDC to build the 3.4-km (7 km including connectors) link over the sea at a ceremony held at Hotel Trident in the evening.

“It will be a challenging task to build this bridge in just 42 months and we are going to achieve the target,” said CEO of Reliance Infrastructure Lalit Jalan. Sonia Sethi, MD of MSRDC, assured to clear all approvals so that the construction could get over within the deadline without any hassles. “Though the entire Western Freeway sea link from Bandra to Nariman Point has already received environmental clearance, approvals for small changes in the design at Worli and Haji Ali are expected soon,” said Sethi.

“We have already started the process in order to put men and machinery on the job. With the financial closure in December this year, we will start on the actual construction,” said Jalan. The WHSL is expected to be thrown open to the public by June 2014.

The realty sector of Ahmedabad is abuzz with ‘Green’. In line with global attempts to conserve environment, many city-based developers have proposed eco-friendly residential and commercial complexes.

Developers like Savvy Infrastructure Ltd. and Parshwanath Developers Ltd. are coming up with commercial complexes which are energy efficient. Experts say that a certified commercial green building cuts down the electricity bill up to 40 percent. Touted as a green project, Sapath Hexa is under construction on S G Highway. The building will have 2.5 lakh sq. ft. constructed area. According to its developer, an office of around 1000 sq. ft. with 10 occupatants will have Rs. 1,12,000 per sq. ft. annual bill, considering electric supply charge at Rs. 6/KWH. While in a simple structure the bill will be around Rs. 1,90,000 annaully.

Savvy Group Director Jaxay Shah said, “We understand the environment conservation and therefore we have thought of commercial projects with ‘green building’ concept. It can reduce energy consumption by 40 percent. Though the initial cost is a bit higher, it will save money later on.”

Savvy’s Sapath-5 project promotes green building concept. The Rs. 250-crore project on 20,000 sq. yards of land will house Crown Plaza, an intercontinental hotel chain. “It is important that both architects and developers focus on the elevation of the building as well as the product that can reduce energy consumption,” said architect Yatin Pandya. “Green has become a fashion statement. Ahmedabad has 50-odd energy-efficient buildings. If we really implement the green concept, we will definitely be able to make a difference,” he added.

Shree Parshwanath Corporation Ltd. is also coming up with a 12-storey building with 2.5 lakh sq. ft. of constructed area. Rushabh Patel, MD of the company, said “We are using double glance glass to keep the temperature down. This will also lead to less consumption of light and air conditioner.”