Urban News

The Hindu 14.11.2009

Encroachments along Cooum river removed

Staff Reporter

CHENNAI: The Public Works Department (PWD) on Friday removed a few huts that had encroached upon public land along the Cooum river near Ethiraj College Road.

According to PWD officials, the encroached land would soon be taken over for the Elevated Expressway project to be executed by the National Highways Authority of India.

The department would remove encroachments between the stretch of Ethiraj College Road and Gurusamy bridge, Chetpet covering a distance of 4.2 km to facilitate the first phase of the project.

The 12 families, which were shifted on Friday, would be rehabilitated in Okkiam Thoraipakkam.

The Hindu 14.11.2009

CMDA to induct farmers as partners in proposed joint ventures

Special Correspondent

— Photo: S.S. Kumar

EXCHANGING IDEAS: Vikram Kapur, CMDA Member Secretary (left), with M.R. Jaishankar, chairman, Estate South 2009 conference, in Chennai on Friday. Kumar Gera, chairman, CREDAI and R. Sellamuthu, Development Commissioner (second from right), are in the picture.

CHENNAI: Instead of acquiring land from farmers, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) will make them partners in proposed joint ventures for creating infrastructure facilities, said its Member Secretary Vikram Kapur here on Friday.

Delivering the special address at a two-day conference on ‘South India real estate — the way ahead,’ organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he said the move, based on the Gujarat model, would enable the CMDA to create a large pool of land and avoid legal tussles. The pooled land would be handed over to public or private sector firms for large-scale development.

The developed land would fetch good value for farmers who could exit from the venture by selling their stake.

To come out of the present crisis, the real estate industry had sought policy sops from the Centre and the State. “Short-term tax incentives are unsustainable. These are all knee-jerk reactions. The real estate players should use this period as an opportunity to emerge stronger in the market by focusing on efficiency, quality and cost competitiveness.”

In his inaugural address, Development Commissioner R. Sellamuthu said that the boundary of Chennai Metropolitan Area would be increased to 1,500 sq.km from the present 1,189 sq.km. to cater to the growing needs and remove the urban and semi-urban divide.

“The expanded area will be sufficient to take care of the development needs of the city for the next 10-15 years. A decade later, it will be extended to 2,000 sq.km. Plans for other cities are also being prepared. Besides, total mobility solution for the entire State, such as mass rapid transport, road networks and bus bays, will be completed in the next five to six years to offer better, quicker and cheaper transportation means to commuters,” he said.

Kumar Gera, chairman, Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), urged the members to send in their views or suggestions on the proposed Real Estate Regulation Bill to the Ministry concerned.

A project could be delayed by various stakeholders such as local authorities, project sanctioning authorities, buyers and financial institutions.

However, the Bill does not provide for the accountability of these stakeholders in a transaction.

M.R. Jaishankar, chairman, Estate South 2009, said: “Due to the global recession, the real estate industry went through a difficult phase for the last 12 to 15 months. However, it has started showing progress for the last three months on improved economic growth, and it is not an aberration.”