Plan to conduct Scientific Survey on all dilapidated buildings in Mumbai before Monsoon

May 2nd, 2013

After the Mumbai incident, where a building collapsed, killing 74 people, and injuring several others, the state government had decided to conduct a scientific audit of all cessed and dilapidated buildings in the city and appoint consultants for technical study of the structures. According to Sachin Ahir, minister of State for housing, “The housing department plans to conduct a scientific survey of all dilapidated buildings, especially before the rains start”. As per department statistics, the city has over 13,000 cessed buildings, which were built before 1940-many of which need repair immediately. It is the Mumbai Buildings Repairs and Reconstruction Board (MBRRB) that checks, if the structure requires any repair or reconstruction. However, the board officials are doubtful about completing such a large-scale survey before the monsoon. According to an official of the housing department, “Scientific survey of all buildings is not possible in such a short span. The board can identify the buildings that need to undergo structural audit on priority. Structures in better condition can be surveyed later in the year”.

The housing department’s move assumes significance with the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) questioning the mechanism adopted by the MBRRB for identifying dilapidated cessed buildings in Mumbai. According to the CAG, in its recently tabled report in the state legislature, “It is difficult to visually ascertain the deterioration or distress of a building structure”. Taking cognizance of the CAG’s remark, Ahir said the board would soon appoint or hire experts from reputed institutions, like IIT-B, for conducting scientific tests of the old structures. He also added, “Experts will be roped in for completing the survey”.

The CAG, in its report, also stated that despite the board’s survey, seven cessed buildings collapsed between 2008 and 2011, which caused the death of 37 people. A total of 39 people were injured. The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) has also begun the process of appointing a consultant for carrying out structural audit of its structures.

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Real estate prices in Mumbai may undergo a correction

April 9th, 2013

The real estate prices in Mumbai may undergo a correction as several new launches are being done at a discount to average market prices. According to a recent report on real estate by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the property prices in Mumbai have increased to almost 14 per cent (CAGR) in the last decade and the most affordable project within Mumbai is upwards of Rs 10,000 per sq ft. This means that for a 2BHK apartment, the price will be at least Rs 1.5 crore. Only households with an annual income greater than Rs 35 lakh would be able to afford it. According to Abhishek Kiran Gupta, Real Estate Analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, “This trend is unsustainable and prices in Mumbai will have to correct and remain subdued over the next 2-3 years. This will allow improvement in affordability as income levels catch up with residential prices. Most of the new launches during Jan-Mar 2013 have been at a discount to average market prices”. According to the report, new project launches at attractive prices, discounts, schemes attract buyers, and launches by renowned developer brands resulted in pick-up in sales during the period. Discounts have helped sales in the quarter ended March 31, 2013.
Struggling to step up sales at current market prices, builders are now offering schemes to lure buyers. While builders have not officially cut base prices they are resorting to several discount schemes and freebies to push sales. Several Mumbai-based builders are offering discounts through 20:80 schemes, stamp duty waivers, floor rise waivers and other freebies. The 20:80 models are where the buyer pays up to 20 percent of the entire amount as advance, while the rest is paid only when the flat is ready. According to Pankaj Kapoor, MD at real estate firm Liases Foras, “Prices and land values have to go through a correction in Mumbai. Ready-to-move-in property is cheaper than those under construction. If you look at the secondary market, price correction has already taken place as resale apartments are being offered at least 15-20 per cent below the market price”.

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Real estate prices in Mumbai may undergo a correction

April 9th, 2013

The real estate prices in Mumbai may undergo a correction as several new launches are being done at a discount to average market prices. According to a recent report on real estate by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the property prices in Mumbai have increased to almost 14 per cent (CAGR) in the last decade and the most affordable project within Mumbai is upwards of Rs 10,000 per sq ft. This means that for a 2BHK apartment, the price will be at least Rs 1.5 crore. Only households with an annual income greater than Rs 35 lakh would be able to afford it. According to Abhishek Kiran Gupta, Real Estate Analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, “This trend is unsustainable and prices in Mumbai will have to correct and remain subdued over the next 2-3 years. This will allow improvement in affordability as income levels catch up with residential prices. Most of the new launches during Jan-Mar 2013 have been at a discount to average market prices”. According to the report, new project launches at attractive prices, discounts, schemes attract buyers, and launches by renowned developer brands resulted in pick-up in sales during the period. Discounts have helped sales in the quarter ended March 31, 2013.

Struggling to step up sales at current market prices, builders are now offering schemes to lure buyers. While builders have not officially cut base prices they are resorting to several discount schemes and freebies to push sales. Several Mumbai-based builders are offering discounts through 20:80 schemes, stamp duty waivers, floor rise waivers and other freebies. The 20:80 models are where the buyer pays up to 20 percent of the entire amount as advance, while the rest is paid only when the flat is ready. According to Pankaj Kapoor, MD at real estate firm Liases Foras, “Prices and land values have to go through a correction in Mumbai. Ready-to-move-in property is cheaper than those under construction. If you look at the secondary market, price correction has already taken place as resale apartments are being offered at least 15-20 per cent below the market price”.

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Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation received 3,000 response to ELU Maps Change – Mumbai

March 4th, 2013

The civic body has received around 3,000 responses to the ELU maps change. The BMC has given at least two months to the citizens to response and February 28 was the last date for sending suggestions. According to the sources the deadline could be extended further by another month. NGOs and citizens’ groups, scrutinizing the ELU maps at ward levels, have found several errors in these maps and want the BMC to rectify them before going ahead with drafting the new development plan for the next 20 years from 2014. The ELU maps form the basis of the development plan. The DP is the land use map of the city.  The official said that the BMC will send its officers for site visits to address the objections. If needed, the changes will be made in the maps and then work will start to prepare the draft of the development plan.

Some of the errors pointed out by citizens are that the some educational institutes have been marked as commercial land; slums have either not been mapped or mapped as green spaces. Open spaces, heritage structures have been mapped as something else or not mapped at all. Mangroves have been marked as open land. Citizens groups have found over 200 errors in the ELU maps from wards like M-east (Chembur, Trombay), H-west (Bandra, Santa Cruz) and K-west (Juhu).

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BMC gets 178 Responses over illegal Religious Structures on Public Properties – Mumbai.

February 14th, 2013

The BMC till now have received 178 responses from the citizens over illegal religious structures on public properties. The civic body had published a list of 742 illegal religious structures on December 28 and listed 534 structures for demolition and 208 for regularization. The BMC had asked citizens objecting to the illegal status given to a particular shrine to submit documents to prove that the structure existed before 1964—the cut-off datum for legal shrines. The BMC will also conduct a hearing in some cases before deciding on the issue. Tuesday was the last day for submission of feedback following which the BMC will compile a report on the religious structures to be regularized or razed.

 

 

 

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Parle-G, the biscuit pioneer, becomes India’s first FMCG brand – Mumbai

February 13th, 2013

Parle-G, the biscuit pioneer, which was launched in 1939 by the Parle Products during the British rule, has become the first Indian FMCG brand to cross the Rs 5,000-crore in retail sales in a year. In 2012, Parle Products sold Rs 5,010 crore worth of its flagship glucose biscuit brand at retail price, besting the entire domestic sales of Dabur or Godrej products and selling three times more than Maggi noodles. This meant sales of more than 100 crore packets across sizes every month, or 14,600 crore biscuits in the entire year, that is, 121 biscuits each for the 1.2 billion Indians.
Started by Mohanlal Dayal Chauhan in 1929 at Vile-Parle, a Mumbai suburb, Parle Products first launched an orange candy and then other confectionaries before entering the biscuits segment. Even after 70 years, the company hasn’t digressed from their philosophy of selling affordable biscuits to Indians. This affordability proposition is exactly what has been paying off for Parle-G despite rivals such as ITC and Britannia entering the space. The company also managed to keep prices unchanged for over a decade – between 1996 and 2006 – even as the prices of raw materials such as wheat, sugar and milk escalated up to 150 per cent. The net result was that, Parle-G increased its share from 67 per cent in 2002 to 79 per cent in 2012 while the share of Britannia’s Tiger fell to 9 per cent from 26 per cent during the same period. ITC’s Sunfeast brand too had over 9 per cent share in the glucose segment last year.

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BMC to frame policy on illegal structures by end of the month – Mumbai

February 12th, 2013

By end of the month, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will frame a comprehensive policy to deal with illegal structures .A special meeting of the general body was held on 7th February 2013, to discuss illegal structures, the meeting lasted for over 5 hours. According to the Municipal Commissioner, Sitaram Kunte, the civic body will appoint designated officers to take action against illegal structures and in case if there is  any negligence on part of the officers, then action will be taken against them also.” The issue was raised in the general body by leader of the House, Yashodhar Phanse, who demanded that the BMC should chalk out a time-bound plan to deal with illegal structures. BJP corporator Vinod Shelar alleged the BMC staff was hand-in-glove with offenders. Kunte said all the complaints will be looked into and action taken against erring employees.

 

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Naigaon in Mumbai an ideal location for habitation

February 5th, 2013

 

Known to be primarily inhabited by Christian families for a long time, Naigaon is now developing into a residential hub and attracting many buyers who cannot afford properties in the surrounding areas such as Vasai, Mira Road and Bhayandar. This locality is offering 1 and 2 BHK configurations in sizes ranging from 500- 1,100 square feet. Due to many upcoming residential projects from developers such as Rashmi Builders, Mittal Builders, Pearls Group, Reliable Group and Nakshatra Builders, property prices have already witnessed a rise of almost Rs 700-800 in the last one year. According to the MagicBricks.com data, there is a 3 per cent increase in the property prices in Oct-Dec, 2012 quarter. The capital values in Naigaon will witness a high in future, when the proposed infrastructure developments such as a flyover connecting east and west Naigaon, a highway parallel to the Ahmedabad highway and the Virar-Alibag Multi-nodal corridor come into existence, which will be an added attribute to the serenity.

 

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Recommendation from SFIO to prosecute Asaram Bapu in Land Grab case – Mumbai

January 23rd, 2013

 

The Serious Fraud Investigating Office (SFIO) is seeking Asaram Bapu’s prosecution in an Rs 700 crore land grab case in Madhya Pradesh. According to sources, the land, located on the Delhi-Pune freight corridor in MP belongs to Jayant Vitamins Limited (JVL), a major player in glucose and vitamin supply to other pharma companies, was allegedly grabbed and being used by the Self-styled godman, Asaram Bapu in 2000. JVL is a public limited company which was delisted from the Bombay Stock Exchange in 2004 for defaulting on the mandatory listing fees which companies pay to the stock exchanges to list themselves. Though JVL did not complain about the matter, a shareholder of the company approached the Ministry with the complaint of mismanagement of company’s properties following which ministry transferred the complaint to SFIO in 2010 for investigation. The SFIO after investigating the case over two years now, sent its recommendation to the ministry. According to a senior official from ministry of corporate affairs, “We have received the recommendation from SFIO to prosecute Asaram Bapu, his son Narayan Sai and some others in the case and it is under consideration”.

 

 

 

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Bhendi Bazaar Reconfiguration Plan is Ready to Take off – Mumbai

January 23rd, 2013

One of the Mumbai’s most ambitious attempts to reconfigure Bhendi Bazar – a crowded residential-commercial area -is at final approval stage.  The construction will start in April after receiving the final environmental clearance. Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT) who is carrying out the project will approach the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority for its final approval. This project in Bhendi Bazar stretches from the JJ flyover junction at Byculla to Minara Masjid on the south. The State Environment Appraisal Committee-2 (SEAC-2) requested the SBUT to draw up a traffic management plan and to set up foot overbridges at important junctions and to use only treated waste water for the work while getting the final approval.

Bhendi Bazaar is just a maze of concrete today; but once the project is completed it will have over 700-odd trees, congestion-free roads and the city’s longest shopping corridor.

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