This has sparked off a buying and selling frenzy in Kalyan that has left some in a happy mood and others deeply concerned.

The Navi Mumbai International Airport, which was announced a few years ago, was planned to be constructed at the Kopra-Panvel region through public-private partnership. After the announcement of the airport, the residential prices in Kharghar and Belapur in Navi Mumbai which were in the range of Rs 2,500-3,000 per sq ft had went up above Rs 6,000 per sq ft by the end of 2008, said reports.

When this proposed site ran into trouble over environmental clearances, a few experts pointed towards the 1670 acres of land already in possession of the defence ministry near Kalyan. Also last week, Jairam Ramesh, Union Environment Minister, had expressed his unhappiness about setting up an airport at Navi Mumbai. Now, plots in Kalyan are being sold in small chunks of one guntha (roughly 1,089 sq ft) for around Rs 3 to 4 lakh each. Just a few years back, an acre of land in Kalyan could be bought for Rs 4 to 5 lakh.

Shailendra Iyanger, a real estate investor at Kalyan said that some of the real estate brokers in Kalyan had contributed in spreading the rumor that the government will move the site from Navi Mumbai to Kalyan. He said that the speculation that an airport may come up in Kalyan has suddenly triggered a lot of interest among investors, and added that the rates have zoomed up to Rs1 crore per acre.

But in August 2007, former national security advisor M K Narayanan had communicated to the then chief minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, that the airport could not come up in Kalyan as the area was near the site for a research and development laboratory of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). The NSA had said that the BARC site could not be shifted. And the state government continues to put its might behind Navi Mumbai as the preferred location for the proposed airport. We will probably have to wait a little while longer to know where the airport would finally rise.

In a real estate deal that has created history, the National Textile Corporation has sold eight acres of land at its Bharat Mills at Worli in Mumbai for a huge Rs 1503 crore. The largest ever realty deal meant that one acre was sold for a whopping Rs 188 crore.  Indiabulls InfraEstate Ltd emerged winner of the bid to seal the deal after it quoted a price of Rs 1505 crore.

While Lodha bid for the land with a quote of Rs 1503 crore, Peninsula had bid with a Rs 1409 crore quote.  Tatas came fourth in the bids after they came up with a quote of Rs 1263 crore. Others who had bid for the property include Oberoi and Videocon.

Incidentally, the sold out land is the one which the Maharashtra government had been eyeing for its affordable housing scheme. Though the state government had offered to pay Rs 750 crore for this land, NTC had then declined the offer.

With the property now in its hands, Indiabulls will be charting out its next course of action towards delivering a world class product in Mumbai. This is the second in the series of costly buys for Indiabulls as the company had earlier during the week, won another deal by paying Rs 198 crore for an acre of Podar Mills. The 2.39 acre mills went for Rs 474 crore.

The latest has proved that the e-auction route is the best tool in realty sale. While Lodha Structure Developers Pvt Ltd, which quoted Rs 1503 crore came second after a neck-and-neck fight while Peninsula Real Estate Management Pvt Ltd finished third with a quote of Rs 1409 crore, it added.

For NTC, the deal has come about as a windfall. The PSU is now looking at pumping in a good amount of money received as part of the sale into its modernisation efforts.  NTC is currently on path to bringing in a transformation and make it a profit-making venture.

The land for the project has already been acquired by paying off liabilities to the tune of Rs 250 crore – a plot of 17.5 acres, which was occupied by the now defunct Shrinivas Cotton Mills, at Lower Parel.

The residential project called World One, has been estimated at Rs 2,000 crore and is expected to be completed by 2014. Lodha Developers have entered into a tie-up with New York architecture firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, and with Lera for the structural engineering aspect of construction. Construction is expected to be carried out by a top international civil engineering firm – reportedly L&T, Samsung Constructions and Grocon are all vying to be in. With these international associations, the firm aims to bring in a new level of excellence to make World One a landmark exemplifying the Mumbai spirit.

The proposed height of World One, which is aimed at global Indians  we suppose they mean rich NRIs and rich Indians – is more than 1,450 ft. (117 storeys). It would have 300 exclusive 3 and 4-bedroom World Residences and World Villas which would have their own private pools, and also a few duplex World mansions.

This would all be housed in a complex that houses three residential buildings, a top-end shopping avenue and an office building of international standards. The area would have about 5 acres of landscaping and would include an 80,000 ft. sports club that would be situated 175 ft. above ground level. The structure will be designed to effectively withstand wind and seismic movements.
Prices for the units would range from Rs 7.5 to 50 crore. The firm is reported to be expecting Rs 5,000 crore in revenue at the end of the project. According to sources at Lodha, the pre-launch, which was done among select buyers, has already seen a number of bookings, priced at around Rs 25,000 per sq.ft. A full on launch is expected to take place by the end of this month.
Funding for the project is to be through customer receipts, debt finance and internal accruals. Sources say that the developers would also be open to going in for private equity funds if the need arises. Banking sources say that the firm received property funds from HDFC, Singapore funds GIC and Temasek, of more than Rs1,000 crore.

The building will receive the ‘Gold Leed’ certification and will, on completion, take on the title of tallest residential building in the world – which is currently owned by the QI tower in Australia’s Gold Coast (80 storeys in height). Lodha Developers also plans to launch an initial public offering (IPO) of $650 million this year.

Mumbai: The trial run of Mumbai’s super-fast monorail has been successful.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, who flagged off the 300-metre trial run, described the monorail as “an engineering marvel” and “the only one of its kind in the country” for the use of the common man.

About 3 lakh people are expected to use the monorail daily, Chavan said.

The monorail moves on a single elevated beam, instead of the conventional tracks.

The Mumbai monorail project – being jointly implemented by Larsen & Toubro and the Scomi Group, of Malaysia – is expected to be completed in 2010 itself, at a cost of Rs 2,460 crore.

An initiative of the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA), the Mumbai monorail project involves design, construction, installation, testing and commissioning of a 19.4-kilometre route stretching between Jacob Circle and Chembur.

While the Phase I of the Mumbai monorail project will be between Wadala and Chembur via Mahul (about 9 kilometres), the Phase II will cover the distance between Gadge Maharaj Chowk and Wadala (11 kilometres).

We are trying to get hold of a few good photos of the Mumbai Monorail for you.

According to Shailendra Roy, executive vice-president and head of corporate initiatives of Larsen & Toubro, the Phase I of the monorail from Wadala to Chembur is scheduled to be commissioned by the end of 2010, and the Phase II by December 2011.

The monorail network is aimed at easing the traffic in Mumbai, the most populous city in India, having a population of about 14 million people. It is also expected to supplement the existing public transport system in Mumbai, along with the underground metro rail network under construction.

It has been planned to introduce, to start with, 14 monorails with 4 coaches, with a capacity of 500 passengers.

The super-fast monorail will have a frequency of 4.5 minutes, and the fare will range from Rs 8 to Rs 20.

Mumbai monorail’s first corridor will have 15 trains – with 9 of them for the Wadala-Jacob Circle stretch, and the rest for the Chembur-Wadala stretch.

Three coaches from Malaysia are likely to arrive in Mumbai by March 2010.

Suhaimi Yaacob, president of Scomi’s India Projects, said the company estimates that the Wadala-Jacob Circle stretch will have a higher passenger density than the Chembur-Wadala one. The Wadala-Jacob Circle alignment, Yaacob added, has fewer public-transport alternatives.

He said the pillars are designed in such a way that they can take the weight of 6-coach rakes. This means that, in future, if the services need be augmented, there is the scope of adding 2 more coaches without affecting the frequency of the trains at that time.

Countries such as Brazil have planned 8-coach monorail trains, according to Suhaimi Yaacob.

Two other Duronto trains – between Sealdah in Kolkata and New Delhi, and between Chennai Central station and Hazrat Nizamuddin were flagged off recently.

The Railway decided to launch the 2 Duronto Express trains from Maharashtra after it obtained clearance from the Election Commission of India.

Since the Model Code of Conduct for Elections is in place for the Maharashtra Assembly elections to be held on October 13, 2009, the Election Commission had directed that no minister should be involved in the flagging-off of the 2 trains.

The 2263 Pune-Hazrat Nizamuddin Duronto Express leaves Pune at 11.10 a.m. every Tuesday and Friday and arrives at Hazrat Nizamuddin at 7.10 a.m. the next day. On the return leg, the 2264 Hazrat Nizamuddin-Pune Duronto train starts from Hazrat Nizamuddin every Monday and Thursday at 11.00 a.m. and arrives at Pune at 7.20 a.m. the following day.

The 2262 Howrah-Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Duronto Express will depart from Howrah at 8.20 am on every Monday and Friday and will reach Mumbai at 10.30 a.m. the next day. In the return direction, the 2261 Duronto Express leaves Mumbai at 5.15 p.m. every Tuesday and Saturday and reaches Howrah at 7.40 p.m. the next day.

The Howrah-Mumbai train will pass through Nagpur, but it will not have a commercial stoppage there.

The Railway has announced that there will not be any Tatkal quota in the Duronto Express trains as also many other concessions. There will be no discounts on tickets – under any scheme – for students, patients, the physically challenged, artistes and others in Duronto trains. However, senior citizens will get concessions.

According to reports, the non-availability of the Tatkal scheme on Duronto Express trains has displeased the business community, for whom the Tatkal scheme was of much help.

An official of the Railway said that since the non-stop, air-conditioned Duronto Express trains have facilities such as food and bedrolls like in the Rajdhani trains and since the fares in the Duronto trains are rather low, concessions cannot be given to the passengers.

In the Railway Budget for 2009-10, Minister for Railways Mamata Banerjee had announced that a total of 12 Duronto trains would be introduced.

Out of the promised 12 Duronto Express trains, 4 have been launched – for Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune and Chennai.

Mamata Banerjee also announced that all the Duronto trains will run within the next 2 months.