Indian infrastrcuture

Trillion Dollar Dream

Infrastructure will redefine the growth of the new India, says Shilpa Sachdev

For one of the fastest growing economies of the world like India, building the corresponding infrastructure has assumed far greater significance than before. With the Prime Minister according top priority to the country’s infrastructure development, work on several infrastructure projects is bound to gain momentum. Tier I cities are already bustling with people but with even Tier II and Tier III cities seeing more migration and growth coming their way, there is an urgent and definite need to put in place a stronger and sustainable road map for infrastructure. And private-public partnership will play a pivotal role to make this a reality.

The Prime Minister has reviewed and approved the targets for the coming year (2012-13). According to PM Manmohan Singh, India is at a critical juncture. He said that it is imperative to take measures to give a boost to the economy and give a thrust to investment, both public and private. There is a need to create an atmosphere which is conducive to investment and to removing any bottlenecks to growth. He also assured that the government will take the necessary measures to reverse the situation and revive India's growth story. These will turnaround India and take it back to a growth path of 9%. 

In this context, infrastructure investment plays a major role. But the needs of the sector are vast. Infrastructure needs over $ 1 trillion in the next five years. The government alone cannot invest this amount and therefore, public-private partnerships will be crucial. Over a period of time, the Government of India has taken several initiatives to accommodate and accelerate private investments in the infrastructure sector. These include sector specific policies, providing incentives and tax holidays to attract private investments, permission of 100% FDI in the infrastructure sector, special provision of Viability Gap Funding (VGF) and PPP approach. Provisions for setting up an Infrastructure Debt Fund have already been announced in the Budget for FY 2012. Norms have also been relaxed for channelizing funds through the Corporate Bond Market.

Ravi Ahuja, MRICS Executive Director, Cushman & Wakefield says, “The present UPA Government has sent out strong signals in the Budget 2012-13 that they would like to tackle infrastructure development across the nation by announcing Rs 50 lakh crores investments during the next five years, setting up an Infrastructure Debt Fund to collect INR 8,000 crores from overseas markets, issuing Tax free bonds of INR 60,000 crores and allocating greater funding limits for priority sub sectors such as highways, railways, ports, power and housing. Half of these investments are expected from the private sector, which would therefore offer opportunities to the infrastructure companies and real estate sector. A number of the projects would have to be developed through the public-private partnership model as neither the Government nor the private sector would be in a position to develop them entirely by themselves.”

The 12^th Five Year Plan that began from April 2012 has revolutionary allocation on infrastructure. The Planning Commission has proposed a set of targets for the five sectors in consultation with the concerned Ministries. To present a few highlights, for Ports, the target will consist of a total of 42 projects for a value of Rs 14,500 crores and a capacity of 244 MTPA. This is three times of what was achieved last year. Two projects for brand new Major Ports will be taken up during the year. These will be in East Coast (Andhra Pradesh) and West Bengal.  

Total Road length to be awarded in FY 12-13 will be 9,500 kms, an increase of 18.7% over last year. The investment will rise by 73.6%. Around 4,360 kms of roads will be awarded for maintenance under the OMT (Operate, Maintain, Transfer) system for the first time.  

In the Civil Aviation sector, work on Itanagar airport would be commenced by AAI. The total investment on AAI projects will be Rs 2100 crores. Three new Greenfield Projects will be awarded in FY 13. These will be at Navi Mumbai, Goa and Kannur. New international airports will be declared in three or four of the following locations this year - Lucknow, Varanasi, Coimbatore, Trichy and Gaya. An airline hub policy would be finalised and hubs would be operationalised at Delhi and Chennai in FY13. By the end-July 2012, additional PPP projects would be finalised for 10-12 existing airports and for 10-12 greenfield airports. These would be awarded during the year. PPP in airport operations would also be explored.

For Railways, a Dedicated Freight Corridor- PPP for the Sonnagar - Dankuni stretch will be awarded in FY 12-13.  An elevated rail corridor in Mumbai with a total investment of Rs 20,000 crores will be awarded in awarded in FY 12-13. 3. Station redevelopment of four or five stations will be done in PPP mode. Proposal and approach for a High Speed Corridor (Bullet Train) from Mumbai to Ahmedabad will be finalised. 

In the Power sector, the capacity addition target for this year will be 18,000 MW (17,957 MW to be precise) including 2,000 MW to be added by the Kudankulam Atomic Power Project. The power generation target is 930 billion Units, an increase of 6.2%.  

Though the Government has presented an ambitious list of proposed infrastructure projects to be developed this year, it needs to place equal attention on ensuring that the projects get delivered on time. Implementation of infrastructure projects has often been reported as the primary bottleneck in the entire process. A futuristic design like a Bandra Worli Sea link or the swanky Delhi airport is proof enough that if the funding and implementation is in place, there is no reason why we cannot shape a new India.

Housing Melava at Matunga 2012

Collective strength

Commemorating 2012 as the International Co-operative Year, the Housing Melava held last week drew a huge crowd, says Shilpa Sachdev

Top dignitaries and government experts from the housing sector graced the Housing Melava held on June 13, 2012 at the Shanmukhananda Hall in Matunga. The event was organised by the Co-operative Department of Maharashtra to honour the contribution of Yashwantrao Chavan who is known as the father of co-operative movement in India. It was he who brought the Maharashtra Ownership Flat Act, 1963 into action to safeguard the interest of the flat buyer. The event saw Chief Minister of Maharashtra Prithviraj Chavan and Deputy C.M. Ajit Pawar in attendance along with Co-operative Minister Harshvardhan Patil and bureaucrats like Gautam Chatterjee, Principal Secretary, Housing Dept of Maharashtra, BMC commissioner Sitaram Kunte, Upper Registrar Sheshrao Sangle, Ramesh Prabhu, Chairman, Maharashtra Societies Welfare Association and many other experts from housing and co-operative department.

Ramesh Prabhu spoke extensively on the growing importance of deemed conveyance and the procedure to obtain the same. According to Prabhu, if the builder has not transferred the conveyance of the building to the society, the society by following a procedure, can get a deemed conveyance issued within six months from the date of making an application to the Competent Authority for Deemed Conveyance. “The society needs to approach the Notified District or Joint Registrar (Competent Authority) with required documents, attested and approved building plan and property card. The society members can make use of the RTI Act to procure any required information. Once you give a written evidence for application of deemed conveyance to the Competent Authority( Dist Dy. Registrar or Joint Registrar), within  six months the Competent Authority will either issue a deemed conveyance order giving details of the land and the building to be conveyed or rejection on any grounds not adhered to after a thorough check,” Prabhu explains.

The newly elected BMC commissioner Sitaram Kunte talked about the new development control rules as revised in January and also explained the FSI allocation thereof. “Mumbai has been constantly developing and to support the growth the development control rules have also undergone changes so from FSI, we now have TDR and even fungible FSI. For residential buildings, they get 1 FSI and 1 TDR and 35% fungible FSI so total FSI for residential building today stands at 2.7 if they want to go for redevelopment. However, for MHADA and SRA, the FSI norms get more liberal. They can get FSI of up to 4-4.5 provided 60% of the development of entire layout is reserved for EWS/LIG segment.  For redevelopment in the island city, FSI of 4 is allowed for cluster development. With additional 35% Fungible FSI (1.4 fungible FSI on Original FSI of 4), at the time of redevelopment total 5.4 FSI can be used.” Kunte said that the housing societies should make use of the available FSI to create better homes.

Gautam Chatterjee, Principal Secretary of the Housing Dept of Maharashtra said that the joint committee is holding regular discussions to bring out a new Housing Bill under which the thrust will be on effective disclosures. He said that the suggestions and objections to the new law have been received and are under study and review. He assured to bring a good law in place that will keep a thorough eye on the housing sector. Ramesh Prabhu, who is representing all the housing societies, was one of the stakeholders called by the joint Committee to understand concerns and the objections on the New Housing Bill. Other stakeholders also have been called and the consultation is in progress. Chatterjee also stated that once the Bill becomes an Act, there will be better control, accountability and easy redressal of the consumers grievances. 

To improve the effectiveness of the housing sector, the government has brought into force many different steps. The housing darbars are conducted regularly once in every three months on the first Sunday of the month. A diploma course in Housing Society Management has been designed to train the members of the housing societies. Soon a directive will also be issued to employ people who have studied this course in the managing committee for better management of the society adhering to the legal framework. The byelaws have been revamped from time to time. The government is also going to publish the Housing Manual which will be a bible for the housing societies. This will be made available to the public on the official websites as well. 

Talking about deemed conveyance, Co-operative Minister Harshvardhan Patil shared that in the last six months, around 450 buildings have approached them for deemed conveyance on which 70% work has been completed. He called for a common formula or a single window system to solve problems of the co-operative sector.  He further requested the CM to approve a notification to exempt housing society committee members from executing M-20 indemnity bond as the committee members are working on honorary basis. Further he said, there is need to bring out a provision to expel the member from the society who is a habitual complainant and a litigant and brings hurdles in the smooth functioning of the society.

Extending his support, Deputy C.M. Ajit Pawar assured that proper steps will be taken to strengthen the co-operative movement in Maharashtra. CM Prithviraj Chavan said that Maharashtra is the first state who is working on bringing a Housing regulator in place where societies can get their grievances solved. The minister said that the housing regulatory will be a revolutionary step and will be finalised soon.

RBI status quo on credit policy

Need to introspect

The central bank treads cautiously by maintaining a status quo on the credit policy, says Shilpa Sachdev

Against the expectations of the market, the Reserve Bank of India kept the repo rate and the cash reserve ratio unchanged at 8% and 4.75% respectively in its recent credit policy. The real estate sector was hoping for a boost from the government in the form of some relief in the benchmark rates to ease the liquidity and fuel the sector's growth. But with the stance taken by the RBI, experts feel that the country's apex bank could have done better on monitoring the issues facing the economy.

Expressing his disappointment, Paras Gundecha, President of MCHI-CREDAI, states, "It seems the RBI is undermining the importance of the real estate sector in India's economy and GDP. The real estate sector plays a vital role in generating employment opportunities and accelerating the growth of the nation. Being the financial hub of the country, the real estate sector in Mumbai will be negatively impacted by the RBI's status quo."

Inflationary pressures and a policy logjam have impacted the momentum of the real estate sector, which was hoping for the government to announce some measures to support the sector.
According to Lalit Kumar Jain, National President, CREDAI and CMD of Kumar Urban Development Ltd (KUL), the status quo on interest rates will further dampen the sentiment though the RBI may justify its action. He says, "The RBI appears to be sadly ignorant of the importance of the real estate sector in the national economy and GDP. The capital and labour intensive sector plays a key role in employment generation and accelerating growth."

He recalled that the encouragement given to real estate in 1998 had kick-started the growth of cement and steel industries along with over 165 other industries, including transport, with no additional cost incurred by the government. Jain adds, "The risks attributed to real estate and the RBI advisories against lending to real estate have only harmed the sector and made housing costlier for consumers. I hope further policies see rate cuts positively and the conservatism does not become a lasting attitude."

Similarly, Shailesh Puranik, MD, Puranik Builders Pvt Ltd, says, “We are hopeful of some positive steps by the RBI in the future to strengthen the overall market sentiments in the real estate sector.”
 Pranab Datta, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Knight Frank India, says, "The May inflation data seems to have prompted the RBI to adopt a cautious approach and maintain status quo, despite all-round expectations of easing liquidity and lowering interest rates.  For the realty industry, battling sluggish conditions for quite some time, the decision means that the hostile environment will extend further and pre-empt any respite to the industry stakeholders."

The main concern for both buyers and developers is related to the inflationary trends that still persist in the economy, as their finances get impacted on a much bigger level.
Explaining his view point, Sanjay Dutt, Executive Managing Director, South Asia, Cushman & Wakefield, shares, "From the point of the real estate sector, a further rate cut would have resulted in positively influencing the sentiments within the sector. However, reduced CRR and Repo/Reverse rate cuts do not automatically translate into reduced interest rates for mortgages, which would have pushed the sales volumes in the residential section up higher. Banks have to take into account other factors before deciding on lowering their interest rates for retail customers. For developers, in any case, financing options from the banking industry have been restricted since some time and they have had to mainly depend on other sources such as ECBs and PE investments.”

However, Dutt adds, “Our outlook for the sector remains cautious, but still positive as there are transactions still taking place at a sustainable pace and volume."

Though the RBI's decision hints towards a cautious approach, experts feel that the current situation in the economy and industry needs deeper introspection by the RBI and the Government. Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industries, says, "It is quite evident that space for fiscal maneuverability is limited given the very large fiscal deficit and it is also apparent that the inflationary pressures being alluded to are results of structural problems on the supply side. It needs to be understood that with a steadily declining GDP growth, millions of livelihoods are under threat and therefore, a very inflation centric policy measure appears to have missed the bigger picture, when CII was hoping to see a coordinated action from the RBI and the Government to stem the slide in economy."

Create a Flower Garden

Flowers in the backyard!


With a little planning, you can create a refreshing flower garden in your house, says Shilpa Sachdev


In a city like Mumbai, where the size of the apartment is shrinking by the day, having a patch of greenery and colour inside the house in the form of your own flower garden can prove to be a very rejuvenating sight. Flowers look lively, can brighten up the space and they also smell nice. A flower garden is an ideal way to transform a dull looking space. And if planned well, the results can be astonishingly blissful in the form of a blooming garden space.

Choose your plants
There are innumerable varieties of plants available but one needs to choose plants that will thrive well within the prevalent climatic conditions. Also, the requirement of sunlight differs for every plant. This is an important consideration to be made for your flower garden to enhance its longevity. Amit Walawalkar of Green Grower nursery says, “For a flower garden direct sunlight is the most essential factor for it to grow well. The space where you intend to have your flower garden should receive enough sunlight for at least three-four hours in the day. Even the seasonal variety of flowering plants needs sunlight to function well. So if there are two balconies in the house and one of them does not receive good sunlight, the flowering plants won’t grow well out there. You can grow flowers in any container or pot but it requires proper sunlight, watering and manuring to keep it in a healthy shape.”
To give a range of colour to your flower garden, you can pick from roses, bougainvillea, hibiscus to even select seasonal varieties. You need to arrange the seasonal and perennial variety such that the garden continues to retain its dose of colour in every season. Besides, you can also choose from the fragrant variety like parijat, chaffa, raat rani or the seasonal mogra and white lily. Walawalkar adds, “Roses, Periwinkle, Ixora, Jasmine are some common perennial plants that are ideal for home. Premium variety like Orchids, Anthuriums, Adeniums and seasonal variety like Poinsettias, Chrysanthemums, Dahlias and Marigolds are rich in colour. Special butterfly attracting variety like Lantena and Cuphea are also popular. Flowering plants start from Rs 20 to even up to a lakh depending on the growth and age of the plant.”

Select the layout
Before planting, decide the look you desire to give to your flower garden. You can have a mix of different colour flowering plants at different heights to give it a meadow look that makes it look wild. Or if you like a layered look, then you can follow a ‘short to tall’ flower approach.
If you don’t have an outdoor space to cultivate a flower garden, you can do so even in the balcony or a window sill. The planning will vary as per the space available. In this case, potted plants will work best to optimize every square inch of space available.
While most of us visit the nursery for our flower requirements and usually transplant the saplings, you could even sow your own seeds, in the case of seasonal plants, if you are patient enough to have a longer time frame. Walawalkar shares, “While perennials are grown from the twigs, seasonal plants can be grown from the seeds.” Seeing a plant grow from seed to flower is an experience that gives boundless joy.

Maintain the flower garden

-        Make sure the plant gets the right amount of sunlight and water depending on the season.

-        Provide the plant with necessary nutrients by regularly adding manure and compost to it.

-        At the end of every season, open up your plants, dig the soil well and re-plant them to facilitate better movement of nutrients and growth of the plant. Also, this way you can add a dose of manure at regular intervals.

-        Grow flower plants with contrasting colours to add more texture to your garden.

-        It is important to prune your plants regularly to maintain the flower garden.

-        Organic compost that includes leaves, grass cuttings and vegetable matter, is the best to maintain flower gardens.

Concept Furniture

Beyond the usual

Give your home a personality that makes it stand apart, says Shilpa Sachdev

A home offers a wide canvas that can be decorated in a myriad ways. Forget the interior designer and try your own hand at giving your home a new picture. Adding a touch of fusion décor is a good way to start because it enlarges the scope of things you can do. And it need not be something very drastic or big; one can start with small and simple changes or simply keep an eye on interesting innovations hitting the market and include them as a part of the grand design.

The charm of handicrafts is something that never goes out of style. Full of colour and craft, these products add warmth to any home. Vina Mody, the founder-director of Contemporary Art and Crafts says, “It is important that your home looks lived in. Try and buy Indian, buy local products and support local craft. Don't worry too much about what's in style or what's in fashion at the moment as these will keep changing. A home needs to grow organically and needs to be filled with things you love- not things that are in fashion. The difference comes about when you are not scared to mix and match - place an ethnic Indian dhurrie under a modern industrial table or maybe combine some contemporary screen printed cushion covers with a beautiful Ikat bed cover.”

Formally trained in product design, designer Manasi Manjrekar recently launched her store Confluence Elite that houses an eclectic range of furniture designs. In her opinion, concept furniture is a growing trend and an excellent medium to bring home something different and unique. Manjrekar shares, “Furniture is a basic need in the house. The importance of a well-designed space is assuming importance especially today when the buyer is well-travelled and has a particular need. Concept furniture is a borderline art piece, which has a strong story and reason to exist. The attempt is to combine utility with art and offer it at an approachable price but since it is not your usual piece of furniture, there is a price tag attached. For those who are looking out for something different and particular, concept furniture is something to look out for.”

Some of the pieces that stayed with us were the huge open showcase wherein the lower three racks came off to make a stairway to help shorter people reach the full height of the display. The Vajrasan chairs were an absolute ergonomic delight. The Red Indian themed chandelier was a nice change. Made from glass bottles and infused with bright colour feathers, the chandelier can be nicely hung loose to ornament a central place in the house or beautify an odd pillar. The simply enchanting popsicle can be carried wherever one goes. Plant it into the floor and you have made yourself a place to sit just about anywhere. A set of boxes placed one over the other in a corner also caught our attention as an interesting corner piece; you can choose the number of boxes you want to stack up.

The beauty of concept furniture is that it cannot be replicated or mass produced, which makes it very extra-ordinary and special. It is not your regular idea of a table or chair. Every piece has an inspiration that is the unique to the artist behind the piece of work.

Imagine a traditional trunk customised to your choice? If you have loved the timeless appeal of the traditional Indian trunks, there are some chic and functional varieties for the connoisseurs to choose from. Each trunk by the Trunks Company, Jaipur – makers of avant-garde luxury fashion trunks, is a unique blend of aesthetics, legendary charm and contemporary usage. What’s more - they can be customised according to dimensions and leather colours to suit the décor, but keeping in mind the functionality and grandeur of the trunk. Says designer Livio Delesgues, “Apart from their delightful appearance that renders great aesthetic value to an available space, these trunks are extremely functional as well. The Bar Trunk is an epitome of luxury personalized to match the requirements of its connoisseurs. The Safe Trunk cherishes valuables with strong vault and is an ornament in itself. The other bespoke trunks such as the Wardrobe Trunk, Vanity Trunk, Dressing Trunk are an amalgamation of whimsical architecture and design to adorn oneself with exclusive luxury. In fact, the Watch Trunk is a cherished possession for all watch collectors across the country.”

The furniture and accessories for the home are getting quirky, experimental and thought-provoking. A simple change of motif or colour or even a rare piece of accessory can elevate the depth of your home décor. The trick lies in how you do it differently!