And some confirmation of the Noida super tower and description of the high rise trend picking up in India.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GJ01Df02.html
Priyanka Bhardwaj
NEW DELHI - It is a US$1 billion project that will put India on the top of the world, literally. Plans are afoot for the world's tallest building, with 135 stories, at Noida, a satellite township on the outskirts of the capital, New Delhi. The skyscraper is a seen as a fitting epitome of a rapidly growing and resurgent India - hub of outsourcing for multinational firms, a service-led economy that's pulling up manufacturing as well and an information technology (IT) powerhouse, all of which have translated into a hyperactive real estate sector, with the mega skyscraper to show for it.
The Indian skyscraper, to be built as part of the ambitious Noida City Center in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, will be built on a 140-hectare plot and will be higher than the 508 meter-high Taipei 101 in the Taiwanese capital, currently the tallest building in the world. The Noida building is slated to be 710 meters (2,330feet) tall - 202 meters higher than Taipei 101. It will be designed to resemble the peaks of the Himalayas and is scheduled to be open for business by 2013. The building will contain a 50-floor five-star hotel, a 40-story glass atrium and 370,000 sq meters of shopping space.
"New York in the '30s, Malaysia in the '90s and China today - all have used tall buildings to showcase their countries' achievements to the world," said Hafeez Contractor, a famous Indian architect who has designed buildings around the world. "We want this building to show to the world what India can do." Chairman and chief executive officer of the Noida Authority, Deo Dutt Sharma, said: "Aspects like cost and related activities are yet to be worked out." The authority has set up a six-member committee to work on the project and visit Kuala Lumpur, which boasts the world's now-second-tallest building, Petronas Twin Towers.
The skyscraper, its planners hope, will be the tallest new indicator of India's economic prowess as the country jumps into the race with the likes of Taiwan, Malaysia and China, where seven of the world's 10 tallest buildings rest. These countries have a penchant for tall buildings and are known to compete with each other in outdoing heights. India, too, is looking to join this race to the top.
Noida, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata lead the business and process outsourcing (BPO) boom in the country with several highrises in their midst. Gurgaon, for instance, is sprinkled with numerous office buildings, shopping malls and residential highrises in various stages of completion to cater to the ever-rising demand of the upwardly mobile middle class. Multiple tracts of land in Noida and Gurgaon, which were lying idle just a year ago, have suddenly sprung to life, being converted into residential or commercial property.
Realty boom
Noida skyscrapers and Gurgaon malls, of course, are just the tip of the real estate boom in the country that has also resulted in a more than 40% rise in realty prices in the past year. The construction boom is at an unprecedented scale in India to meet the soaring needs of India's high-tech sector. It's a building boom where 70-80% of the demand is being driven by software services and business and process outsourcing companies. According to a report by international property consultancy firm Cushman and Wakefield, in some of the micro-markets within Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai and Pune, cities where IT jobs abound, property prices have gone up by almost 50%, leading to a huge pressure to meet pent-up demand.
A similar growth trend is visible now in Tier II cities like Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Hyderabad, and Kochi, where several BPO companies have moved operations due to lower costs. Bangalore has moved from an IT back-office location to a full-fledged IT hub, with cutting-edge research combined with low value-added services. Business-led demand for commercial office space has fueled demand for residential and retail properties.
Properties with the potential of being leased out to multinationals, large corporates, banks or embassies are the most in demand. In Mumbai and Delhi, lease rentals are as high as 10-13% of the value of a residential property and 13-14% for furnished apartments and offices. Residential property prices have gone up by 30-100% in Delhi. Most predict that 2005 will also witness growth in property markets but prices will not rise as steeply as in 2004.
China attracts about 3.2% of its gross domestic product as foreign direct investment (FDI) in its real estate sector, while India draws a measly 1.1%. In order to catch up with China, the government has recently begun giving automatic permission, without requiring the usual FDI clearances, to 100% foreign-invested construction projects. Earlier, overseas firms were allowed in only after clearance from the highly bureaucratic Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). Foreign investors can now enter any construction development area, be it to build resorts, townships or commercial premises, but they will have to construct at least 50,000 square meters within a specific time-frame. Norms relating to the stipulated land area to be developed by foreign entities have also been eased, to 25 acres from 100. Several companies have announced setting up real estate funds with estimates indicating that realty funds are expected to raise in excess of $1 billion in the coming months, with expected returns of over 15% annually.
According to Chesterton Meghraj Property Consultants, much of the investments will come in IT parks and residential projects. "We see companies from West Asia and Southeast Asia eyeing India's real estate sector. Interest to the tune of $2 billion has already been expressed after the recent announcement. The country's leadership position in back-office operations could trigger a requirement of 70 million square feet capacity in the next 2-3 years,'' Chesterton Meghraj director Santhosh Kumar said.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GJ01Df02.html
Priyanka Bhardwaj
NEW DELHI - It is a US$1 billion project that will put India on the top of the world, literally. Plans are afoot for the world's tallest building, with 135 stories, at Noida, a satellite township on the outskirts of the capital, New Delhi. The skyscraper is a seen as a fitting epitome of a rapidly growing and resurgent India - hub of outsourcing for multinational firms, a service-led economy that's pulling up manufacturing as well and an information technology (IT) powerhouse, all of which have translated into a hyperactive real estate sector, with the mega skyscraper to show for it.
The Indian skyscraper, to be built as part of the ambitious Noida City Center in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, will be built on a 140-hectare plot and will be higher than the 508 meter-high Taipei 101 in the Taiwanese capital, currently the tallest building in the world. The Noida building is slated to be 710 meters (2,330feet) tall - 202 meters higher than Taipei 101. It will be designed to resemble the peaks of the Himalayas and is scheduled to be open for business by 2013. The building will contain a 50-floor five-star hotel, a 40-story glass atrium and 370,000 sq meters of shopping space.
"New York in the '30s, Malaysia in the '90s and China today - all have used tall buildings to showcase their countries' achievements to the world," said Hafeez Contractor, a famous Indian architect who has designed buildings around the world. "We want this building to show to the world what India can do." Chairman and chief executive officer of the Noida Authority, Deo Dutt Sharma, said: "Aspects like cost and related activities are yet to be worked out." The authority has set up a six-member committee to work on the project and visit Kuala Lumpur, which boasts the world's now-second-tallest building, Petronas Twin Towers.
The skyscraper, its planners hope, will be the tallest new indicator of India's economic prowess as the country jumps into the race with the likes of Taiwan, Malaysia and China, where seven of the world's 10 tallest buildings rest. These countries have a penchant for tall buildings and are known to compete with each other in outdoing heights. India, too, is looking to join this race to the top.
Noida, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata lead the business and process outsourcing (BPO) boom in the country with several highrises in their midst. Gurgaon, for instance, is sprinkled with numerous office buildings, shopping malls and residential highrises in various stages of completion to cater to the ever-rising demand of the upwardly mobile middle class. Multiple tracts of land in Noida and Gurgaon, which were lying idle just a year ago, have suddenly sprung to life, being converted into residential or commercial property.
Realty boom
Noida skyscrapers and Gurgaon malls, of course, are just the tip of the real estate boom in the country that has also resulted in a more than 40% rise in realty prices in the past year. The construction boom is at an unprecedented scale in India to meet the soaring needs of India's high-tech sector. It's a building boom where 70-80% of the demand is being driven by software services and business and process outsourcing companies. According to a report by international property consultancy firm Cushman and Wakefield, in some of the micro-markets within Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai and Pune, cities where IT jobs abound, property prices have gone up by almost 50%, leading to a huge pressure to meet pent-up demand.
A similar growth trend is visible now in Tier II cities like Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Hyderabad, and Kochi, where several BPO companies have moved operations due to lower costs. Bangalore has moved from an IT back-office location to a full-fledged IT hub, with cutting-edge research combined with low value-added services. Business-led demand for commercial office space has fueled demand for residential and retail properties.
Properties with the potential of being leased out to multinationals, large corporates, banks or embassies are the most in demand. In Mumbai and Delhi, lease rentals are as high as 10-13% of the value of a residential property and 13-14% for furnished apartments and offices. Residential property prices have gone up by 30-100% in Delhi. Most predict that 2005 will also witness growth in property markets but prices will not rise as steeply as in 2004.
China attracts about 3.2% of its gross domestic product as foreign direct investment (FDI) in its real estate sector, while India draws a measly 1.1%. In order to catch up with China, the government has recently begun giving automatic permission, without requiring the usual FDI clearances, to 100% foreign-invested construction projects. Earlier, overseas firms were allowed in only after clearance from the highly bureaucratic Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). Foreign investors can now enter any construction development area, be it to build resorts, townships or commercial premises, but they will have to construct at least 50,000 square meters within a specific time-frame. Norms relating to the stipulated land area to be developed by foreign entities have also been eased, to 25 acres from 100. Several companies have announced setting up real estate funds with estimates indicating that realty funds are expected to raise in excess of $1 billion in the coming months, with expected returns of over 15% annually.
According to Chesterton Meghraj Property Consultants, much of the investments will come in IT parks and residential projects. "We see companies from West Asia and Southeast Asia eyeing India's real estate sector. Interest to the tune of $2 billion has already been expressed after the recent announcement. The country's leadership position in back-office operations could trigger a requirement of 70 million square feet capacity in the next 2-3 years,'' Chesterton Meghraj director Santhosh Kumar said.
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