A Metro service for old city soon

The district administration is planning to carry out an aerial survey of old Gurgaon for proposed metro connectivity within a month.

Confirming the move, deputy commissioner P C Meena said, “A proposal has been prepared in this regard as it would help in exploring the possibilities (for the metro connectivity.”

He refused to divulge further details of the project. The deputy commissioner also met members of the old Gurgaon residents forum, Metro Lao Sangharsh Samiti, which is pressing for the metro connectivity in the old city.

The resident forum has a committee comprising mostly RWA members and social workers active in the old city, who have come on a single platform to fight the metro connectivity issue.

“This is the big one chance for all the residents of the old city to fight for bringing metro to this part of the town and we are planning a series of campaign in this direction,” said Amit Arora, Sector 4 RWA secretary. The committee members, Puja Singh, Meenu Singh, Col Ratan Singh and Dr Ashok Taneja, also met the HUDA administrator regarding the metro connectivity issue.

“The demand for the metro connectivity in old Gurgaon is genuine but it is for the state government and metro officials to take a call in the matter,” said Praveen Kumar, HUDA administrator.

The committee members are now planning a series of meeting with officials of Delhi Metro, MCG mayor and also with the chief minister B S Hooda also. The forum has demanded that the area from Rajiv Chowk to railway station, and new Palam Vihar and other HUDA sectors should be added to the metro connectivity.

“At present, the residents are paying Rs 700 for taxi for reaching airport from old Gurgaon. The metro connectivity will immensely help in general commuting inside the old city,” said Puja Singh, a social worker.

At present, the spadework for the metro link between from IFFCO chowk to sector 21 Dwarka has been worked out for which DPR has been submitted with probable routes and coordinates of the routes.

Mayfield Gardens residents clueless about fate of property

Residents of Mayfield Gardens are clueless about the fate of their property after the department of town and country planning (DTCP) had announced that it was taking over the township from the builder.

According to the announcement, the DTCP announced that residents paying EMI or buying any property in Mayfield Garden colony must not pay the builder since the entire colony has been taken over by the government for all administrative purposes.

“Now we don’t know about the future of the property owners here. There is no information about what DTCP is doing for taking over the township,” said Cdr (retd) Dharamvir Yadav, RWA member.

The housing projects are in different stages of completion and at present over 15,000 residents are living in plotted houses. Most of the owners are paying EMI for the property but due to the embargo on the builder they are unable to register the property in their names.

After taking over the township, the department has put up public notices in over 23 sites of the colony about the cancellation of the licence and announcement of the takeover of the project for the general public.

The DTCP had cancelled the licence on account of non-payment of dues running into crores of rupees by the builders.

The licences were given for development of residential plotted colony (Mayfield Gardens) in Sectors 47, 50, 51, 52 and 57 in Gurgaon. The senior town planner, Gurgaon, R K Singh, said: “The department is still in the process of getting the bank details and other aspects of the project.”

When asked about how the residents would pay up their EMI for the property owned in the colony, Singh said: “The department is working on the details of the relevant procedures and the property owners will be informed about them,” said Singh.

It is for the first time that the DTCP had taken over a housing project from a builder and will now be controlling the entire progress of the project. The residents, meanwhile, are getting anxious over the uncertainties. “The DTCP must start working to improve the facilities in the township. At least roads can be constructed in the colony,” said a resident.

Housing plan for poor hits roadblock

Delhi Government’s plan to make way for transit accommodation for slum-dwellers, who may not be eligible for flats for economically weaker sections, has hit a roadblock. The Union ministry of urban development and poverty alleviation has raised concerns over the size of the project, which seeks to create room for 30,000 people in transit. The Centre also has reservations about the funding proposed by the state.

Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation’s proposal for a transit accommodation in Kanjhawala and Samaspur in northwest Delhi was sent to Union ministry of urban development and poverty alleviation for approval. But the Centre has reverted to the state with a list of queries. The urgent need for a transit accommodation was also discussed at the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board meeting chaired by chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Thursday. The state has sent its reply to the ministry emphasizing on the urgency for a transit facility.

Delhi government wants the transit facility to be developed under the Centre’s flagship programme – the Rajiv Awaas Yojna – which makes room for rental EWS accommodation. The project is proposed to be developed at Rs 300 crore by 2015.

The state’s proposal asserts the need for transit accommodation citing surveys which show that nearly 50% to 60% of slum-dwellers failed to fulfill the eligibility criteria for being allotted the flats for the economically weaker sections.

Surveys carried out across 33-odd slums selected for the first round of relocation laid out that many did not have documents to fulfill the eligibility criterion.

Mayfield Gardens residents clueless about fate of property

Residents of Mayfield Gardens are clueless about the fate of their property after the department of town and country planning (DTCP) had announced that it was taking over the township from the builder.

According to the announcement, the DTCP announced that residents paying EMI or buying any property in Mayfield Garden colony must not pay the builder since the entire colony has been taken over by the government for all administrative purposes.

“Now we don’t know about the future of the property owners here. There is no information about what DTCP is doing for taking over the township,” said Cdr (retd) Dharamvir Yadav, RWA member.

The housing projects are in different stages of completion and at present over 15,000 residents are living in plotted houses. Most of the owners are paying EMI for the property but due to the embargo on the builder they are unable to register the property in their names.

After taking over the township, the department has put up public notices in over 23 sites of the colony about the cancellation of the licence and announcement of the takeover of the project for the general public.

The DTCP had cancelled the licence on account of non-payment of dues running into crores of rupees by the builders.

The licences were given for development of residential plotted colony (Mayfield Gardens) in Sectors 47, 50, 51, 52 and 57 in Gurgaon. The senior town planner, Gurgaon, R K Singh, said: “The department is still in the process of getting the bank details and other aspects of the project.”

When asked about how the residents would pay up their EMI for the property owned in the colony, Singh said: “The department is working on the details of the relevant procedures and the property owners will be informed about them,” said Singh.

It is for the first time that the DTCP had taken over a housing project from a builder and will now be controlling the entire progress of the project. The residents, meanwhile, are getting anxious over the uncertainties. “The DTCP must start working to improve the facilities in the township. At least roads can be constructed in the colony,” said a resident.

A Metro service for old city soon?

The district administration is planning to carry out an aerial survey of old Gurgaon for proposed metro connectivity within a month.

Confirming the move, deputy commissioner P C Meena said, “A proposal has been prepared in this regard as it would help in exploring the possibilities (for the metro connectivity.”

He refused to divulge further details of the project. The deputy commissioner also met members of the old Gurgaon residents forum, Metro Lao Sangharsh Samiti, which is pressing for the metro connectivity in the old city.

The resident forum has a committee comprising mostly RWA members and social workers active in the old city, who have come on a single platform to fight the metro connectivity issue.

“This is the big one chance for all the residents of the old city to fight for bringing metro to this part of the town and we are planning a series of campaign in this direction,” said Amit Arora, Sector 4 RWA secretary. The committee members, Puja Singh, Meenu Singh, Col Ratan Singh and Dr Ashok Taneja, also met the HUDA administrator regarding the metro connectivity issue.

“The demand for the metro connectivity in old Gurgaon is genuine but it is for the state government and metro officials to take a call in the matter,” said Praveen Kumar, HUDA administrator.

The committee members are now planning a series of meeting with officials of Delhi Metro, MCG mayor and also with the chief minister B S Hooda also. The forum has demanded that the area from Rajiv Chowk to railway station, and new Palam Vihar and other HUDA sectors should be added to the metro connectivity.

“At present, the residents are paying Rs 700 for taxi for reaching airport from old Gurgaon. The metro connectivity will immensely help in general commuting inside the old city,” said Puja Singh, a social worker.

At present, the spadework for the metro link between from IFFCO chowk to sector 21 Dwarka has been worked out for which DPR has been submitted with probable routes and coordinates of the routes.

Red Fort capital invests Project

Private equity firm Red Fort Capital Advisors Pvt. Ltd has invested Rs. 150 crore in a residential project conceived by the 3C Company in Gurgaon, a suburb south of New Delhi, its latest offer of funding to the real estate developer.

3C, which is based in Noida, east of the Capital, plans to develop premium apartments priced between Rs. 50 lakh and Rs. 1.5 crore in the yet-to-be-named project on a 47.5 acre site in Gurgaon. The project is in the design stage.

The investment is Red Fort Capital’s fifth in a project undertaken by 3C, said Subhash Bedi, managing director of the private equity (PE) firm. He didn’t disclose total investment numbers. In its last investment, Red Fort had provided Rs. 200 crore of funding to 3C in early 2010 for a housing project in Noida.

Red Fort Capital has invested more than Rs. 500 crore in various projects by the developer, according to analyst estimates.

Property analysts say PE funds prefer multiple investments in a single company rather than scout for new developers to partner with. Funds such as Red Fort Capital have invested in one partner in a specific part of the country more than once. As with 3C and Parsvnath Developers Ltd in the National Capital Region (NCR) centred on the Capital, the fund has formed a partnership with Bangalore-based Prestige Estates Projects Pvt. Ltd.

Such partnerships offer the advantage of a sense of familiarity and comfort between the fund and the developer.

Second, the exhaustive process of due diligence before investment is reduced with a familiar partner and the time and money saved can then be spread across more transactions, said Ambar Maheshwari, managing director of corporate finance at property advisory Jones Lang LaSalle.

Vidur Bharadwaj, a director of 3C, said the firm currently has about 25-30 million sq. ft under development and will raise more capital on a project-specific basis.

With banks tightening lending norms, PE firms and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) have emerged as an important source of funding for most real estate companies.

This year so far, about $69.87 million has been invested across three deals in residential projects by PE funds, according to VCCEdge, which tracks PE investments. Last year, PE funds invested about $409.59 million in 23 transactions across various residential projects.

Red Fort Capital has an estimated $1 billion under management in India, after it recently finished raising a $500 million real estate fund.

Bedi, however, declined to say whether the latest 3C investment is from the new fund or an earlier fund.

“The investment strategy for the new fund continues to focus on largely equity investments in primarily residential projects in large cities,” he said.

The fund made its first investment in Mumbai in November 2011, investing Rs. 250 crore in a slum redevelopment project by Omkar Realtors and Developers Pvt. Ltd.

Bedi added that the fund is currently negotiating two-three possible investment options in the city.

JP Morgan Raising India-focused Offshore Realty Fund

International financial services group JP Morgan is raising a new India-focused offshore real estate investment fund worth close to $500 million, sources close to the development told VCCircle.

A person privy to the development said, “The amount being so huge, it looks difficult that they will be able to raise that much as international investors are taking time to warm up to Indian real estate. They might close it at $300-350 million. The first phase of the fund is up for closing in March this year.”

Sources further added that the fund had already locked three deals with realty developers before it set out to raise money. The deals took place in Mumbai, Chennai and Pune, but details of the project could not be verified.

An e-mail query sent to the company went unanswered.

In August 2006, JP Morgan Asset Management announced its real estate fund, JP Morgan India Property Fund, and raised $360 million to invest in Indian real estate. The fund was mainly raised from institutional investors and high net worth individuals (HNIs) from the USA, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

When launched, the fund had said it would focus on cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, New Delhi and Pune, with selective investments in other cities which were emerging as key economic centres at the national or regional level, including Surat, Vizag and Nagpur.

In 2011, it made an investment of $30 million in North India-based realtor Parsvnath Developers Ltd’s residential project La Tropicana. The investment also has a clause of further investment from JP Morgan’s NBFC to invest in the project. Parsvnath raised the money to provide an exit to its existing realty fund Red Fort Capital.

In December 2010, JP Morgan India Property Fund made partial exit of $24.5 million by divesting its stake in a project of B Raheja Builders to K Raheja Group.

This comes as yet another real estate-focused fund in India. Last month, Red Fort Capital, headed by Subhash Bedi, Parry Singh and G B Singh, said it had raised $500 million from overseas investors for a new fund. Since the global meltdown, none of the realty funds had been able to raise significant amount from global investors. Recently, realty and construction major Shapoorji & Pallonji had gone out to raise a realty fund of $500 million, but it is yet to close the fund. Macquarie is the placement agent of the proposed fund.