Development Watch – Week #3 September ’22
Development News
64 Acres SEZ near Nirma University in Gujarat
American real estate company Tishman Speyer has entered into a strategic alliance with Ganesh Housing Corporation to develop a 64 acres SEZ in Ahmedabad. The land parcel is located behind Nirma University. Phase 1 of the SEZ will be jointly developed by Tishman and GHCL. Gross leasable area will be close to 1.2 million sq ft. The SEZ in future will have processing and non-processing areas, being developed in a phased manner.
35 year lease period for Railway land
Railways land can now be leased for a period of 35 years instead of 5. Annual license fee has also been reduced to 1.5% of the market value for the current year, from the current 6%. Lowering of the license fee is believed to be in line with NITI Aayog’s recommendation to keep it below 3%. It would help facilitate the projects under PM Gati Shakti programme as part of the railway land policy overhaul. The move is expected to help set up 300 cargo terminals and generate 1,25,000 jobs.
Delhi Metro to provide bus services for Central Vista
Delhi Metro is starting bus service starting September 9, 2022. The bus service is for those who want to visit India Gate or Central Vista, and will be available for a week. Visitors can board the DMRC electric buses from Bhairon Road, Raj Ghat, Connaught Place and JLN Stadium. Drop off will be at Gate No. 1 of the National Stadium C hexagon, from where India Gate can be accessed by walking.
Railways floats tender for 80,000 Make in India Wheels
Indian Railways has created a blueprint to become an exporter of wheels. A tender was floated to build a wheel plant that would manufacture a least 80,000 wheels a year. This is the first time the Railways has floated a tender to invite private players to build a wheel plant and make wheels for high speed trains in India. Indian Railways requires two lakh wheels per year. Steel Authority of India (SAIL) will provide one lakh wheels while rest will be made at a new “Make in India” plant. It is aimed that the plant will be exporter of wheels too, especially to markets in Europe. As per the tender, the new plant has to be set up in 18 months.
DHL supply chain to invest $500 million Euros in India
DHL supply chain (DHL) is planning to invest EUR 500 million (Rs. 4,000 crores) in India over the next 5 years. DHL will add 12 million square feet of capacity in wholly-owned DHL multi-client sites in key metro cities such as Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR and Pune. It would cater to growing sectors such as e-commerce, retail, consumer, manufacturing, as well as automotive.
Expansion of 10 air strips in Rajasthan
Rajasthan Govt has sanctioned Rs. 37.75 Crores for expansion work at 10 air strips in the state. Funds has been approved for various airstrip development works like boundary wall construction, campus wall construction, and airstrip refurbishment. Works would be carried out on airports such as Kolana, Abu Road (Sirohi), Phalodi (Jodhpur), Talwara (Banswara) and Padihara (Churu) airstrips. Small amounts have also been allocated to Tarapura, Kumher, Sawai Madhopur and Hamirgarh (Bhilwara).
Local Feedback
LocalFeedback.org aims to track and document actionable parameters that help improve urban and rural infrastructure. The founder, Susmita, has juggled diverse roles in real estate, project budgeting, valuation and execution on construction sites. Having traveled to more than 20 countries, she has worked across 4 regions in India. Her areas of interest include sustainable buildings, electric mobility and urban development. She visited top-ranking cities on livability indices and has presented published papers at international conferences.