Monthly Archives: April 2010

Gujarat Builders To Tour Argentina And Brazil

As the realty sector in the country is picking up again the builders and developers of Gujarat want to leave no stone unturned to lure the buyers and provide them with unique world class features. Over 100 builders from across the state are planning to visit Argentina and Brazil as part of a technical tour to study their local Realty Markets. The trip will be 10 day long and will give the builders an idea about the way their Real Estate Markets work in their economies.

Brazil and Argentina were chosen mainly because their economies are quite similar to the one in India. The trip will give the builders knowledge to compare and comprehend the real estate activities happening in the Latin American countries.

Árvore de Natal da Lagoa
Photo by Vitor Guerson
Brazil is part of the BRIC nations; Argentina’s GDP has an economy which, akin to India, has been growing at 8-9 per cent per annum. The developers will be visiting Argentina’s capital — Buenos Aires — often referred to as ‘The Paris of South America’. They will also be visiting the largest cities in Brazil — Rio de Janeiro and São Paolo — considered as the safest opportunities for real estate investment. Rio de Janeiro, regarded as the ‘Carnival Capital’ of the world, is probably Brazil’s most famous city and the second largest in Brazil with a population of over 15 million people. Sao Paolo is the centre of government and finance in the country, and is therefore likely to be popular with those looking for commercial and office properties.

Both the countries are among the hottest destinations in the world today for commercial real estate investment. The developers will not only hold meetings with local counterparts, they will also be looking for opportunities for possible joint ventures.

Well, this is not the first time the builders of Gujarat will be taking an excursion like this. In January, a similar group of realtors from Gujarat had gone to study the real estate cycle of the debt-hit Dubai.Some of them were also trying to acquire properties in the emirate. But the builders were apprehensive about putting their money in the place as the real estate market in Gujarat gave them far better returns. Similarly, last year, about 120 realtors from Gujarat had undertaken a technical tour of Japan and South Korea.

Surely these foreign tours have benefitted the city. The quality of design of real estate structure in terms of interiors, landscaping or aesthetics have improved by and large giving the state a new look and feel.

Is Commonwealth Village Really ‘Green’?

As Delhi is gearing up for the commonwealth games, all eyes are set on the commonwealth village which promises state of the art facilities specially designed to be the home for over 8000 finest athletes of the participating countries.

It is being constructed in partnership between the Emaar MGF and the Delhi Development Authority. It’s being built next to the very famous Akshardham temple with easy access to and from south and central part of the capital. The village consists of 34 towers spread around 27 acres of land that have 1168 flats (2-5BHK) with five star amenities. It is full of plush green lawns, a swimming pool which could host competitions as well and that’s saying something, a world class health club with fully equipped gymnasium, tennis court, basketball court, kid’s crèche, play area and what not.

It was said that after the games are over the village will serve as the hostel for the students of Delhi University. The plan looks on hold as of now.

Triathlon
Photo by jimmyharris

The approximate prices of the houses eyed by the real estate players are:

2 BHK (1443 sq. ft.) – Rs. 13250/- sq. ft. (Approx. Rs. 1.85 cr onwards)*
3 BHK (2092 sq. ft.) – Rs. 13250/- sq. ft. (Approx. Rs. 2.60 cr onwards)*
4 BHK (2535 sq. ft.) – Rs. 14000/- sq. ft. (Approx. Rs. 3.50 cr onwards) *
5 BHK (3278 sq. ft.) – Rs. 15000/- sq .ft. (Approx. Rs. 4.50 cr onwards)*

*Preferential Location Charges as applicable

But the candy of the eye will be the village going green. The building will be certified ‘Green’. On Saturday the Chief Minister inaugurated a 66/11 kV grid sub-station that will provide uninterrupted power supply. The Rs. 40 cr sub-station has been constructed by the power distribution company, BYPL, in a record time of 13 months.

She expressed confidence that the Commonwealth Games would prove to be a “memorable event and will be able to showcase Delhi as a developed, historical, modern and vibrant city.”

But to all this there is a flip side as well, the Environmentalists claim it’s not a smart thing to build these massive buildings on the banks of the Yamuna. They believe that the village will hamper the flow of groundwater that replenishes the seasonal river, effectively choking it which in turn will increase the shortage of water supply in the city.

Anyways amidst all this the excitement and the speed of preparation for the games the nature has been left to the mercy of gods and the babus. The city people can just sit, pray and watch.