Flats to be demolished in Canley for new homes project

Two blocks of flats in Canley are to be demolished and replaced with 83 new homes after the proposals were backed by planning bosses.

Housing association Whitefriars wants to create a mix of houses and flats at the site off Papenham Green and Donegal Close.

Some will be to rent, some shared ownership and some will be put on sale. There will also be garages and parking spaces.

Whitefriars will rehouse the people living in the two blocks due for demolition. Whitefriars bosses say the two blocks of flats are substandard.

A Whitefriars spokesman said: “To facilitate the redevelopment and continued regeneration of the Canley neighbourhood, two existing Whitefriars blocks of flats in Donegal Close will be demolished.

“Residents living in the blocks have been consulted with and the overwhelming response received was supportive of the proposals to redevelop the area.

“Officers are now working closely with residents in supporting them to find a new home, which includes making arrangements for the move.”

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The development will cost £10million. Some of the money is coming from Whitefriars, some from a Homes and Communities Agency Social Housing Grant and some from selling the houses.

Resource: http://www.coventrytelegraph.net

Why Not Give Adarsh Flats to War Widows?

The Bombay High Court’s order to demolish the Adarsh Cooperative Group Housing Society’s building in the Colaba area of the metropolis is bound to hit former chief minister Ashok Chavan the most. It is not just because four of his close relatives have flats in the high-rise building. He had taken a keen interest in the construction of the apartment and as such, would be in a tight spot as the law takes its own course. His political career could also be at stake since he had been hand-picked by Rahul Gandhi to lead the Congress in Maharashtra. The court has specifically directed the government to come down heavily on all the bureaucrats and politicians, who had played a nefarious role that allowed the building to come up. While it is to be welcomed, steps must be taken to ensure that politicians involved in it do not escape.

However, it is a moot point whether the ideal course of action is demolition. The court has stayed its order for 12 weeks on the request of the society. A similar apartment building called White House was built in violation of all rules in New Delhi. It was situated very close to the Supreme Court. One of the charges against the developer was that the height of the building was above the ceiling fixed for the area. While ordering demolition of those floors, which were above the ceiling, the court allowed the rest of the building to stay. Today, many people live in the building. Similarly, total demolition of the Adarsh building would not serve much of a purpose, other than terrorising the tainted.

Thought could have been given to the fact that the housing project was initiated in the name of the victims of the Kargil war, especially the Kargil widows. Those, who did not suffer on account of the war, had no right to become a member in the society and get a flat which will fetch a huge profit when it is sold. In fact, the Kargil name was misused to speed up the sanctioning job. The court could have cancelled the allotments, invited fresh applications from deserving Kargil victims and allotted them the flats in a transparent manner. That is, instead of, demolishing the brick-and-mortar structure!

Resource: http://www.newindianexpress.com

Kedah govt to let developers revive abandoned housing projects

 ALOR SETAR: The state government will open up opportunities for developers to take over housing projects abandoned since seven years ago involving 1,922 units, under the Private Affordable Housing Scheme (MyHome).
 
Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah said the state government had agreed to give the housing project sites to developers to build MyHome 1 and MyHome 2 units and they could discuss the matter with the state's Housing Division and the local councils.

"MyHome has an advantage because the scheme offers an incentive of RM30,000 as down payment. People can purchase a house under MyHome 1 at RM90,000, while the MyHome 2 costs RM190,000," he told reporters after the launching of the Malaysia Property Expo (Mapex) 2016, here, Saturday.  

Thus, he hoped that developers would build more affordable houses, taking into account the purchasing power of the people in Kedah before they embarked on a housing project. 

"Developers are also advised to build multi-storey buildings such as apartments to maximise the land in Kedah due to increasing land scarcity. When more multi-storey buildings are built, the price per

BASHAH-HOUSING 2 (LAST) ALOR SETAR
Ahmad Bashah said the state government would also review policies involving property development including whether to reduce or eliminate the existing development charges.
"The Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association Malaysia (Rehda) for Kedah and Perlis has applied  for reduction of 10 per cent from the current development charges because the value of the properties offered was now much lower than before. 

"The value of the properties offered at Kedah Mapex in 2014 was RM2.3 billion, RM1.8 billion in 2015 and this year, it dropped to RM1.2 billion. We will look at this matter to boost housing development in order to meet the people's needs," he said. 

Meanwhile, Kedah/Perlis Rehda chairman Datuk Rick Cheng Wooi Seong hoped the state government would focus on the housing policy in the state to ensure that the property and housing industry would continue to grow, apart from providing affordable houses to the people.

"The (housing) development industry in Kedah is seen as weak due to several factors including the development charges. So, we ask the state government to consider the developers' request as this industry is one of the contributors to the state's economy," he said.

Resource: http://english.astroawani.com

20,000 from city apply for Centre’s housing scheme

olhapur: The civic body has received over 20,000 applications from citizens for the Centre's 'Housing for All by 2022' scheme over the last one month.

The Centre floated the scheme called the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) also known as — Housing for All by 2022 scheme — after scrapping the previous government's Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY).

The Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) received tremendous response from people without homes of their own, which comprised 80% of the applications. The KMC set a target of 10,000 homes to be constructed under the scheme over the next five years.

Prasad Sankpal, the civic body's PMAY coordinator, said, "The Centre will provide houses to slum-dwellers living on rent and those who own land but don't have a house. We have drafted a detailed project report (DPR) for rehabilitation of slum-dwellers from the Kapoor Vasahat area. It will be sent to the state for initial approvals. We are also scrutinizing applications made by the homeless and have given a one-month extension to the application deadline for the scheme."

Two years ago, the civic body had sent the DPRs for the two slums under the then RAY scheme. The Centre has changed the housing scheme's basic funding pattern.

It has stressed on involvement of private developers to undertake housing projects. The earlier scheme was based on shared finance pattern, which meant that the Centre had to share 50% project costs and the state and civic body had to bear the rest of the amount equally.

Sankpal said that the basic fundamentals of the slum rehabilitation and the process are quite similar to the earlier scheme. "For instance, we are done with the socio-economic survey of slums when RAY was under implementation, but the exercise is not needed for PMAY. Currently, we have undertaken the work of drafting a plan of action which is slum-free. This will enable us to understand the civic body's potential to cater to housing needs. Primary estimates indicate that there is a scope to construct at least 10,000 housing units once the Centre clears the slum DPRs," he said.

The huge number of applications shows the response of the people towards the scheme. However, of 20,000 applications, the KMC has only cleared 150 owing to flaws in the applications.

"Guidelines state that the beneficiary needs to provide documents of residence procured from the tehsildar's office, but this is found to be missing in most of applications. We will clear all applications and list the names of beneficiaries in the next two months," Sankpal said.

The action plan will include data on the availability of land space to construct housing projects, population, details of phases, cost estimates, affordability study and slum rehabilitation information.

The civic body has decided to undertake the ward-wise awareness camp and use the media tools to propagate the scheme details.

Beneficiary categories for Housing for all by 2022

*Slum rehabilitation of with participation of private developers

*Promotion of affordable housing for weaker section through credit linked subsidy

*Affordable housing by granting loans

*Subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction or enhancement

Documents Required

*Income certificate from Tehsildar office

*Domicile certificate

*Rent agreement

Applications-20,000

Resource: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Sri Lanka Ministry defends housing project cost

“One cannot compare apple with oranges.”

This is how the Sri Lankan government’s Resettlement Ministry has reacted to criticism over the unit cost of houses to be built under the latest project in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) chief R. Sampanthan and Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran have both argued that at least two houses could be constructed under the given unit cost of over Rs.2 million.

In its detailed response, the Ministry stated that the unit cost of the latest project — Rs.2.18 million — had been arrived at after taking into account the cost of various components and without including taxes.

Each prefabricated house would have facilities like kitchen with pantry cupboard; a dining table and four chairs; a television set along with a stand; a laptop with Wi-Fi facility; a tube well and a 500-litre water tank. There are a total of 65,000 houses to be constructed.

Making a comparison with housing projects of other wings of the government, the Ministry said that the unit cost under the plantation housing programme was Rs.1.2 million and that under the Meeriabatta housing programme of the Sri Lanka Army was Rs.1.3 million.

It also said that when the Resettlement Ministry had carried out a housing project with an owner-driven model, the unit cost was Rs.8,00,000. However the cost element there did not cover the facilities that were being envisaged under the new project.

The Ministry said the temperature inside the proposed houses would be lower by 3-5 degree Celsius than the temperature outside. This was because of insulation technology to be adopted.

On the selection of ArcelorMittal Construction France as the executing agency, the Ministry said eight companies had submitted documents for “request for proposals (RFP)”. Of these, only two — ArcelorMittal and EPI-OCPL Consortium — were qualified. Of these two, only ArcelorMittal had provided a detailed financial package.

Resource: http://www.thehindu.com

No completion certificates: Greater Noida housing projects may face mid-term reviews

With more than 70 housing projects in Greater Noida not being issued completion certificates and home buyers raising concerns over alleged violations by the builders, the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) is considering mid-term reviews of these projects. The development comes after GNIDA asked realty major Supertech to seal over 1,000 flats in its Czar complex for violating the sanctioned plan.

“Almost 90 per cent of more than 75 housing projects in Greater Noida allotted in 2011 have not received completion certificates. Till now, there was no provision for mid-term reviews of these projects. Only when builders come to us for completion certificates, the construction is inspected. We are considering this provision now,” said P C Gupta, Additional CEO, GNIDA.

On the nature of violations, Gupta said, “At many housing project sites, violations of building by-laws have been noticed. For instance, the distance between towers is fixed. Builders violate this norm and project balconies.” He added that in such a scenario, if an untoward incident such as a fire outbreak took place, it would be difficult for a fire engine to move around.

The plans for mid-term inspection follows violations reported at some spots, Czar Complex in Sector Omicron- I being the latest. Against a sanctioned number of 844 housing units, Supertech allegedly constructed over 1,000 more flats, said officials. On April 11, GNIDA issued a showcause notice to Supertech and asked it to seal flats which had not been sanctioned. “There were other violations too,” said Gupta. ““They have submitted a revised map with a request to purchase additional FAR (floor area ratio)… If rules permit, they will be cleared. Some penalty is likely to be imposed on the builders…” Despite attempts, Supertech could not be reached for comment.

Resource: http://indianexpress.com/

Asset Homes launches 12 new housing projects

 Kochi, April 29:  Asset Homes, a leading Kerala based builder, has proposed to launch 12 new housing projects including villas and apartments valued at ₹1000 crore this year.

This include the one teamed up with the global healthcare chain BR Life group to make the SUT Pattom campus in Thiruvananthapuram into a healthcare/residential hub in association with SUT Hospital.

According to V. Sunil Kumar, Managing Director, the company has completed and handed over five residential projects during 2015-16, taking the total number of completed projects to 43 while 25 projects are at various stages of completion at present. The company also achieved a 35 per cent growth in turnover touching around ₹300 crore in the last fiscal.

He also launched a new customer service initiative -- Asset Delight -- offering 17 unique services. Actor Prithviraj will inaugurate Asset Kasavu, the only villa project to receive the coveted Crisis 7 star rating on May 1 in Kalamassery near here.

Resource: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com