Now, have your say in City’s future

Posted on May 10, 2012 by admin

It is time for Bangaloreans to have a say in the planning of the Garden City. The State government, through a Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) notification, has invited suggestions from the general public for the revision of Revised Master Plan (RMP) 2015 for Bangalore Metropolitan Area.

RMP 2015, which is popularly known as CDP 2015, will be revised for another 20 years and it would be called CDP 2035 after revision. 

According to the May 7 BDA notification, the Authority is set to revise the existing CDP as per the provisions under Section 10 of the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act (KTTP), 1961.

The public can give their suggestions at the Town Planning Section of BDA office located in T Chowdaiah Road, Kumara Park West, during office hours or can post their suggestions to the same address. The last date for submitting suggestions is July 7. 

Revision of the master plan is a periodical exercise undertaken by the City planning bodies to draw a roadmap for the future infrastructure development as well as to provide a general blueprint for various civic agencies for better coordination in project planning and implementation.

The BDA had invited expression of interest (EOI) for shortlisting domestic and global consultants to draw a roadmap for the City in October 2011. Members of the civic society and urban experts had pointed out flaws in the CDP 2015. 

Experts had felt that the BDA should not go ahead with another revision without weeding out flaws in the existing CDP. However, the BDA has gone ahead and is set to implement CDP 2035. Sources in the BDA said the appointment of an agency for drawing CDP 2035 is in its final stages.  

Sudhakar K, a civic expert, said that there is overlapping of planning with the Bangalore Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (BMRDA) already looking after the planning. 
With BMRDA already proposing Metropolitan Planning Commission Bill and ABIDe coming up with the Bangalore Regional Governance Bill, there is a need to define the very role of BDA.

Source: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/248364/now-have-your-say-citys.html

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RBI rate cuts may see cheaper home loans – Economic Times

Posted on May 4, 2012 by admin

RBI rate cuts may see cheaper home loans

TNN Apr 16, 2012, 01.30PM IST

Home loan rates may get cheaper if the RBI cuts its benchmark rates.

The savings for the banking system would be far higher if there is a reduction in CRR. This refers to that portion of deposits which banks are required to maintain with the central bank without earning any interest. Last month, RBI had reduced CRR on bank deposits by 75 basis points (bps) to 4.75% – a move which improves bank profits by over Rs 1,500 crore annually.

“The last monetary policy, when RBI reduced CRR by 75 bps, showed that the governor is willing to surprise the market. This time too it is possible that there may be some positive surprise,” said M Narendra, chairman, Indian Overseas Bank.

RBI governor D Subbarao , who took charge immediately after the global financial crisis in 2008, has been famous for what he describes as a ‘baby steps’ approach. After an initial monetary stimulus following the crisis, Subbarao sought to fight inflation by raising interest rates slowly and consistently by 25 bps in every review. In December, he announced that the phase of increasing rates was over and any future move would be towards reducing interest rates. The only catch was the precondition he set out for rate cuts. According to Subbarao, RBI can bring down rates only if the government lives within its means and cuts down borrowing-a move which has not taken place.

Although the government continues to borrow high and inflation fuelled by oil prices remains a danger, the mood weighs in favour of a rate cut. Most bankers feel that the governor has to come out with a “growth-supportive ” policy in view of the sharp slowdown in industrial production . But bankers are no longer unanimous. Last week, Pratip Chaudhuri, chairman of SBI, said that he expected RBI to bring down CRR by 75 bps. Although he was not confident about it, he said that a repo rate reduction would be a big positive for sentiment. He said that, while a cut in CRR would make loans cheaper, it may not cause banks to revise their benchmark base rates as they were dependent on other factors. If the base rate is not revised, old borrowers with floating rates will continue to pay the higher rate.

Source:http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-04-16/personal-finance/31349880_1_crr-rate-cuts-repo-rate

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Real estate Bill delayed again

Posted on May 4, 2012 by admin
Real estate Bill delayed again
Dilasha Seth / New Delhi May 04, 2012, 00:35 IST

The much-awaited regulatory Bill for the real estate sector is still a long way off. The draft Real Estate Regulation Bill will not be tabled during the current session of Parliament, a senior official in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has confirmed.

The Bill has been in the making for several years now, and was slated to be introduced during the Budget session. The housing ministry is now targeting the monsoon session of Parliament. The official said the final draft was ready.

The draft bill has gone through some changes related to clauses on imprisonment and compulsory registration.

The imprisonment, according to the final draft, applies only in the case of non-registration with the real estate regulation authority. Registration is mandatory for projects of a certain area and type. The maximum term of imprisonment is up to three years, and penalty may be extended up to 10 per cent of the project cost. In the earlier draft of the Billl, imprisonment was recommended in case of willful failure to comply with orders of Appellate Tribunal too.

The ministry has also reduced the area size for compulsory registration from 4,000 square feet in the earlier draft to 1,000 square feet now. This would mean registration would be mandatory for the smaller players too.

National Real Estate Development Council (Naredco) hailed this as a good move. “It would also check fly-by-night operators in real estate, which are majorly into smaller projects,” said R R Singh, Naredco director-general. “However, the load on the authority will increase, as it would get flooded with projects for registration as smaller projects are more in number.”

Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Credai), however, wants no limit on the registration. “No developer should be left out of the ambit of Real Estate Regulation Authority,” according to Credai chairman Lalit Jain.

The objective of the proposed legislation is to establish an authority to regulate, control and promote planned and healthy development and construction, sale, transfer and management of colonies, residential buildings, apartments and other similar properties, besides to host and maintain a website containing all project details.

Source:http://business-standard.com/india/news/real-estate-bill-delayed-again/473381/

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