HDIL Cyber city Kalamassery, Kochi - May Happen

After all the controversies , it is reported that, LDF and Govt has taken a stand that the HMT – HDIL land transaction is not in violation of any agreements between Govt and HMT .

This probably gives a new breath to the Cyber city project. Even though not much details are known on the Cybercity, following is some comparison of the same with smart city

Comparison between HDIL Cyber City and Smart City Kochi

	Cyber City	Smart City
Company	HDIL (Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited) Mumbai	TECOM Investments Dubai
Total Area	~70 Acres	~246 acres
Type	INTEGRATED IT Township (Kerala’s first!)	Information Technology Township
Build Area	?	8.8 million sq ft
Investment	Rs.4000 Crores (in 4 yrs)	4,200 crore
Expected jobs	60,000 direct 1,50,000 indirect jobs	90,000 direct

About Real Estate Prices in Kerala

An article about the price increase in property investments in the last few years. The numbers illustarted in the article might look like exaggrated. Infact they are not.. I guess every one of us knows some or the other guy made a fortune out of some land they inherited or bought for peanuts 5+years ago.. I remeber reading some where , the minimum(yes, minimum!) profit per year, in any land investment in cochin area have been 60% for the last several years.

Despite of our Govt and Kerala Media keep repeating 'land mafia', I sincierly think it is not just some 'land mafia' driving all the prices up in kerala. Some thing Kerala media , govt and many people fail to notice is that this is a growth that is reflected in every city in India .. Every part of india! While I agree there are some players in this field doing and trying foul plays, driving up the prices, it cannot be just that.. As per Wikipedia India " is the third largest in terms of purchasing power parity. India is the second fastest growing major economy in the world, with a GDP growth rate of 9.4% for the fiscal year 2006–2007"

Some happenings in the last few years...

• Ambani is buliding the most expensive home in the world
• Tata motors is buying 2 leading luxury auto brands in the world Jaguar and Land Rover
• Lakshmi Mittal, is world's largest steelmaker ....
• 14 new billionaires from India join world's richest people list,in the last year...

and the list goes on....

Indias projected GDP growth is 8+% in this year also.. When every business in India is booming, would it refelect in kerala ?.. Is it sensible to say , keralas land prices are all controlled by some 'land mafia' ?

Cochin Cyber city issue - Minister K P Rajendran Interview

All the talks are about why HMT kalamassery land should not have sold to HDIL for cyber city project. All the media and opposition (within govt and the UDF)parties are after the blood of the industrial and revenue minister. Yes, since there was attempt to encroach the goverment land,it should be enquired and the conspirators must be brought to justice..

But what did HDIL do wrong ?.. how about some talks on establishing Cyber city else where? How about some talks on offering HDIL other options? Neither goverment nor the opposition [the so called ambassadors of vikasanam] seem to be interested in it. Needless to mention about kerala media! They are real parasites....

National Highway Expantion: restriction to constructions

Kerala government is expected to release a notification, in two weeks,which would restrict the construction/building by the side of national highways.

All constructions will be prohibited for 70 meter width on national highways , 50 meter width on state highways and other major roads at 30 meter width. The distance is calculated from the Middle of the road.

The goverment will not accuire the land immediatly. The accusition will happen at market rate, at the time of road development.

Proposed Changes in Govt Policy & Rules

hindu.com reports some details about the proposed land policy changes that are under the consideration of kerala government.

The article can be found here http://www.hindu.com/pp/2008/01/19/stories/2008011950430100.htm

2 important parts of the proposal that might directly affect the NRIs and individual buyers are 'Fair Value' and 'New Registration System'.

The fair value [lowest land value for a transaction] system as per hindu article

"will be actually helpful as most of the NRIs, who are leading land buyers, can enter into land deals without having to bother about paying money in black. "

The other side of it is that, the buyer and seller would end up paying a lot more govt taxes/stamp duty than they do today.

According to the article The 'New Registration System'

will make it compulsory for those involved to appear at the registration office

This rule, could make things impossible for NRIs.. Hopefully they implement it leaving excpetions for NRIs.

One cannot expect these proposals to make any immediate impact on the current market.. The laws will take time to be put in place.

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More reading about the proposed changes in land registration
http://keralaletter.blogspot.com/2008/01/initial-response-to-land-policy-draft.html
More reading about Fair Value :
http://www.hindu.com/pp/2006/12/02/stories/2006120200590100.htm

http://www.thomasgeorge.org/2007/07/land-laws-in-kerala.html