Pune: In three years, Puneiites will be able to reach Solapur in two hours flat or even less, thanks to the agreement signed between the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Pune Solapur Expressway Pvt Ltd -a Special Purpose Vehicle floated by Tata group’s Navinya Buildcon Pvt Ltd and Italian group Atlantia SpA.
The Rs 1,100-crore project plans to convert the existing ‘two-lane, undivided’ Solapur highway into a ‘four-lane divided carriageway’.
The speed limit on the new highway will be 100 km per hour. The MoU, which was signed on May 19, is only concerned with the 40 km mark to to 144 km mark on the highway and is the first phase of the project till Indapur.
It will reduce the time taken to travel towards Solapur, especially the time taken from Pune to Daund and Pune to Baramati.
“It is a Memorandum of Understanding for Rs 1,100 crore where the government grant is Rs 299 crore; the Navinya Buildcon Pvt Ltd will raise the rest of the amount. It is a contract for 21 years, which includes the three-year construction period. They will be able to collect the toll tax for 17 years,” said A P S Sethi, NHAI Chief General Manager.
According to sources, the project was, however, now pegged higher at Rs 1,400 crore because of cost escalation.
The initial cost was estimated in 2005.
The existing Solapur highway is a two-lane undivided lane with no median. The new highway will be a divided four-lane highway, which will be a part of the National Highway-9 between Mumbai andHyderabad
Unlike an expressway, this NH9 stretch will only have partial access control; which means vehicles will be able to join the highway at various points.
Although the average speed of vehicles, once the road comes up, will be higher, the four-lane highway, being broader, is also expected to reduce the number of accidents on the Solapur highway, which has been an accident-prone area.
“It should reduce congestion; at present many sugarcane tractors ply on the highway and end up causing traffic jams. These vehicles would use the service roads after the highway is built,” said Ram Mishra, Project Director, Nashik for NHAI.
Meanwhile, NHAI is also working on converting the Pune-Kolhapur highway from four lanes to six lanes.
“We have to call for tenders. It will take a few months,” Sethi said.
According to a survey, 65% of working individuals in urban India prefer real estate as long term investment option as it guarantees higher future returns and helps them stay off other riskier investment options like the stock market, equity, mutual funds and gold. This country wide survey called Current Investment Patterns in working Urban Indians was conducted by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India under the aegis of ASSOCHAM Social Development Foundation (ASDF). The survey questioned almost 1,500 directors, officers, executives, teachers, professionals in the public sector and multi-national companies and self-employed traders, lawyers, doctors and financial experts about their preferred investment options for savings. Around 975 participants from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Pune and Jaipur approved of investing in real estate and felt that Indian real estate had huge prospects in the commercial, hospitality, retail, manufacturing, healthcare and housing sectors.
12 Dec 2010 The Hindu
NRIs Cash in on Investment Avenues Available in India
The Indian economy has emerged as one of the most robust economies of the world, as was evident during the recent global meltdown. Despite the difficult times, investments in our home land continue to be lucrative to Non Residents Indians (NRI). Funds invested in India not only yield higher returns when compared to investments in the US or other European nations, but also gives a sense of security to the investor. The private sector, characterised by its dynamic and competitive nature, has been a key driver for the economic growth witnessed by India in recent times and presents considerable scope for foreign investment.
The Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) defines NRI as a person resident outside India who is an ‘Indian citizen’ or a ‘Person of Indian Origin’ (PIO). FEMA broadly regulates matters related to NRI investments viz., investment in immovable property, foreign exchange, bank deposits, government bonds, investment in shares, units, securities, and foreign direct investment in India. However, due consideration should be given to Income-tax implications on income generated from investments in India and to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulations.
The purchase consideration should be met either out of inward remittances in foreign exchange through normal banking channels or out of funds from the accounts maintained in India as mentioned above. NRIs can also avail loans from commercial banks for purchase of immovable property. General approval has been granted by RBI to financial institutions for granting loans to NRIs. Repayment of loans can be made out of the NRE/NRO/FCNR accounts maintained in India.
NRIs are also allowed to transfer immovable properties to an Indian resident, NRIs or PIOs. There is no lock-in period for sale of residential/commercial property. Further, NRIs can remit abroad an amount up to $1 million per year from the sale of immovable property in India, subject to certain conditions. NRIs are also allowed to gift any residential/commercial property in India to a person resident in India or to an NRI or PIO subject to certain exceptions. Long term capital gains on transfer of immovable property are subject to 20 percent tax rate whereas the short term capital gains are subject to tax at the applicable individual slab rates.
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is a form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate (usually of an apartment house) is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights associated with the individual ownership and controlled by the association of owners that jointly represent ownership of the whole piece. Colloquially, the term is often used to refer to the unit itself in place of the word "apartment". A condominium may be simply defined as an "apartment" that the tenant "owns" as opposed to rents.
"Condominium" is the legal term used in the United States and in most provinces of Canada. In Australia and the Canadian province of British Columbia it is referred to as strata title. In Quebec the term "syndicate of co-ownership" is used. In England and Wales the equivalent is commonhold, a form of ownership introduced in 2004 and still uncommon in most places.
Technically, a condominium is a collection of individual home units along with the land upon which they sit. Individual home ownership within a condominium is construed as ownership of only the air space confining the boundaries of the home "(Anglo-Saxon law systems; different elsewhere)". The boundaries of that space are specified by a legal document known as a Declaration, filed of record with the local governing authority. Typically these boundaries will include the drywall surrounding a room, allowing the homeowner to make some interior modifications without impacting the common area. Anything outside this boundary is held in an undivided ownership interest by a corporation established at the time of the condominium’s creation. The corporation holds this property in trust on behalf of the homeowners as a group–-it may not have ownership itself.
The primary attraction to this type of ownership is the ability to obtain affordable housing in a highly desirable area that typically is beyond economic reach. Additionally, such properties benefit from having restrictions that maintain and enhance value, providing control over blight that plagues some neighborhoods. Big cities, including San Francisco, Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, Calgary, Seattle, Mississauga, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Toronto, are major condo users.
Overview
Typically, a condominium consists of multi-unit dwellings (i.e., an apartment or a development) where each unit is individually owned and the common areas, such as hallways and recreational facilities, are jointly owned (usually as "tenants in common") by all the unit owners in the building. It is also possible for condominiums to consist of single family dwellings: so-called "detached condominiums" where homeowners do not maintain the exteriors of the dwellings, yards, etc. or "site condominiums" where the owner has more control and possible ownership (as in a "whole lot" or "lot line" condominium) over the exterior appearance. These structures are preferred by some planned neighborhoods and gated communities.
A homeowners association, consisting of all the members, manages the condominium through a board of directors elected by the membership. The same concept exists under different names depending on the jurisdiction, such as "unit title", "sectional title", "commonhold," "strata council," or "tenant-owner's association", "body corporate", "Owners Corporation", "condominium corporation" or "condominium association." Another variation of this concept is the "time share" although not all time shares are condominiums, and not all time shares involve actual ownership of (i.e., deeded title to) real property. Condominiums may be found in both civil law and common law legal systems as it is purely a creation of statute.
The restrictions for condominium usage are established in a document commonly called a "Declaration of Condominium". Rules of governance are usually covered under a separate set of Bylaws. Finally, a set of Rules and Regulations providing specific details of restrictions and conduct are established by the Board and are more readily amendable than the Declaration or Bylaws. Typical rules include mandatory maintenance fees (perhaps collected monthly), pet restrictions, and color/design choices visible from the exterior of the units. Condominiums are usually owned in fee simple title, but can be owned in ways that other real estate can be owned, such as title held in trust. In some jurisdictions, such as Ontario, Canada or Hawaii USA, there are "leasehold condominiums" where the development is built on leased land.
In general, condominium unit owners can rent their home to tenants, similar to renting out other real estate, although leasing rights may be subject to conditions or restrictions set forth in the declaration (such as a rental cap for the total number of units in a community that can be leased at one time) or otherwise as permitted by local law.
India
Condominiums are more commonly known as "flats" in India. This type of housing is very common in big cities like Mumbai (Bombay) but not very popular in rural India.Actually, they are registered as "co-operative housing society" rather than condominiums in that the owners actually have a share of the co-op and not the actual real estate itself.Owners can sell the "share" in the open market, but they have to get the approval of the co-op to complete the transaction.
The Rs 1,100-crore project plans to convert the existing ‘two-lane, undivided’ Solapur highway into a ‘four-lane divided carriageway’.
The speed limit on the new highway will be 100 km per hour. The MoU, which was signed on May 19, is only concerned with the 40 km mark to to 144 km mark on the highway and is the first phase of the project till Indapur.
It will reduce the time taken to travel towards Solapur, especially the time taken from Pune to Daund and Pune to Baramati.
“It is a Memorandum of Understanding for Rs 1,100 crore where the government grant is Rs 299 crore; the Navinya Buildcon Pvt Ltd will raise the rest of the amount. It is a contract for 21 years, which includes the three-year construction period. They will be able to collect the toll tax for 17 years,” said A P S Sethi, NHAI Chief General Manager.
According to sources, the project was, however, now pegged higher at Rs 1,400 crore because of cost escalation.
The initial cost was estimated in 2005.
The existing Solapur highway is a two-lane undivided lane with no median. The new highway will be a divided four-lane highway, which will be a part of the National Highway-9 between Mumbai and
Unlike an expressway, this NH9 stretch will only have partial access control; which means vehicles will be able to join the highway at various points.
Although the average speed of vehicles, once the road comes up, will be higher, the four-lane highway, being broader, is also expected to reduce the number of accidents on the Solapur highway, which has been an accident-prone area.
“It should reduce congestion; at present many sugarcane tractors ply on the highway and end up causing traffic jams. These vehicles would use the service roads after the highway is built,” said Ram Mishra, Project Director, Nashik for NHAI.
Meanwhile, NHAI is also working on converting the Pune-Kolhapur highway from four lanes to six lanes.
“We have to call for tenders. It will take a few months,” Sethi said.
Real Estate Is The Most Preferred Investment Option:
According to a survey, 65% of working individuals in urban India prefer real estate as long term investment option as it guarantees higher future returns and helps them stay off other riskier investment options like the stock market, equity, mutual funds and gold. This country wide survey called Current Investment Patterns in working Urban Indians was conducted by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India under the aegis of ASSOCHAM Social Development Foundation (ASDF). The survey questioned almost 1,500 directors, officers, executives, teachers, professionals in the public sector and multi-national companies and self-employed traders, lawyers, doctors and financial experts about their preferred investment options for savings. Around 975 participants from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Pune and Jaipur approved of investing in real estate and felt that Indian real estate had huge prospects in the commercial, hospitality, retail, manufacturing, healthcare and housing sectors.
12 Dec 2010 The Hindu
NRIs Cash in on Investment Avenues Available in India
The Indian economy has emerged as one of the most robust economies of the world, as was evident during the recent global meltdown. Despite the difficult times, investments in our home land continue to be lucrative to Non Residents Indians (NRI). Funds invested in India not only yield higher returns when compared to investments in the US or other European nations, but also gives a sense of security to the investor. The private sector, characterised by its dynamic and competitive nature, has been a key driver for the economic growth witnessed by India in recent times and presents considerable scope for foreign investment.
The Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) defines NRI as a person resident outside India who is an ‘Indian citizen’ or a ‘Person of Indian Origin’ (PIO). FEMA broadly regulates matters related to NRI investments viz., investment in immovable property, foreign exchange, bank deposits, government bonds, investment in shares, units, securities, and foreign direct investment in India. However, due consideration should be given to Income-tax implications on income generated from investments in India and to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulations.
The purchase consideration should be met either out of inward remittances in foreign exchange through normal banking channels or out of funds from the accounts maintained in India as mentioned above. NRIs can also avail loans from commercial banks for purchase of immovable property. General approval has been granted by RBI to financial institutions for granting loans to NRIs. Repayment of loans can be made out of the NRE/NRO/FCNR accounts maintained in India.
NRIs are also allowed to transfer immovable properties to an Indian resident, NRIs or PIOs. There is no lock-in period for sale of residential/commercial property. Further, NRIs can remit abroad an amount up to $1 million per year from the sale of immovable property in India, subject to certain conditions. NRIs are also allowed to gift any residential/commercial property in India to a person resident in India or to an NRI or PIO subject to certain exceptions. Long term capital gains on transfer of immovable property are subject to 20 percent tax rate whereas the short term capital gains are subject to tax at the applicable individual slab rates.
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is a form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate (usually of an apartment house) is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights associated with the individual ownership and controlled by the association of owners that jointly represent ownership of the whole piece. Colloquially, the term is often used to refer to the unit itself in place of the word "apartment". A condominium may be simply defined as an "apartment" that the tenant "owns" as opposed to rents.
"Condominium" is the legal term used in the United States and in most provinces of Canada. In Australia and the Canadian province of British Columbia it is referred to as strata title. In Quebec the term "syndicate of co-ownership" is used. In England and Wales the equivalent is commonhold, a form of ownership introduced in 2004 and still uncommon in most places.
Technically, a condominium is a collection of individual home units along with the land upon which they sit. Individual home ownership within a condominium is construed as ownership of only the air space confining the boundaries of the home "(Anglo-Saxon law systems; different elsewhere)". The boundaries of that space are specified by a legal document known as a Declaration, filed of record with the local governing authority. Typically these boundaries will include the drywall surrounding a room, allowing the homeowner to make some interior modifications without impacting the common area. Anything outside this boundary is held in an undivided ownership interest by a corporation established at the time of the condominium’s creation. The corporation holds this property in trust on behalf of the homeowners as a group–-it may not have ownership itself.
The primary attraction to this type of ownership is the ability to obtain affordable housing in a highly desirable area that typically is beyond economic reach. Additionally, such properties benefit from having restrictions that maintain and enhance value, providing control over blight that plagues some neighborhoods. Big cities, including San Francisco, Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, Calgary, Seattle, Mississauga, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Toronto, are major condo users.
Overview
Typically, a condominium consists of multi-unit dwellings (i.e., an apartment or a development) where each unit is individually owned and the common areas, such as hallways and recreational facilities, are jointly owned (usually as "tenants in common") by all the unit owners in the building. It is also possible for condominiums to consist of single family dwellings: so-called "detached condominiums" where homeowners do not maintain the exteriors of the dwellings, yards, etc. or "site condominiums" where the owner has more control and possible ownership (as in a "whole lot" or "lot line" condominium) over the exterior appearance. These structures are preferred by some planned neighborhoods and gated communities.
A homeowners association, consisting of all the members, manages the condominium through a board of directors elected by the membership. The same concept exists under different names depending on the jurisdiction, such as "unit title", "sectional title", "commonhold," "strata council," or "tenant-owner's association", "body corporate", "Owners Corporation", "condominium corporation" or "condominium association." Another variation of this concept is the "time share" although not all time shares are condominiums, and not all time shares involve actual ownership of (i.e., deeded title to) real property. Condominiums may be found in both civil law and common law legal systems as it is purely a creation of statute.
The restrictions for condominium usage are established in a document commonly called a "Declaration of Condominium". Rules of governance are usually covered under a separate set of Bylaws. Finally, a set of Rules and Regulations providing specific details of restrictions and conduct are established by the Board and are more readily amendable than the Declaration or Bylaws. Typical rules include mandatory maintenance fees (perhaps collected monthly), pet restrictions, and color/design choices visible from the exterior of the units. Condominiums are usually owned in fee simple title, but can be owned in ways that other real estate can be owned, such as title held in trust. In some jurisdictions, such as Ontario, Canada or Hawaii USA, there are "leasehold condominiums" where the development is built on leased land.
In general, condominium unit owners can rent their home to tenants, similar to renting out other real estate, although leasing rights may be subject to conditions or restrictions set forth in the declaration (such as a rental cap for the total number of units in a community that can be leased at one time) or otherwise as permitted by local law.
India
Condominiums are more commonly known as "flats" in India. This type of housing is very common in big cities like Mumbai (Bombay) but not very popular in rural India.Actually, they are registered as "co-operative housing society" rather than condominiums in that the owners actually have a share of the co-op and not the actual real estate itself.Owners can sell the "share" in the open market, but they have to get the approval of the co-op to complete the transaction.
