BANDRA-WORLI LINK DUE
The much delayed Bandra-Worli
sealink project is set for completion by September 2007,
following which a Rs 38 toll charge per four wheeler (to
be revised upwards by 5 per cent annually) for a period
of 30 years would be imposed to recover the project costs.
Making the announcement, Maharashtra public works department
minister, Anil Deshmukh said, “There are penal provisions
available in the contract to ensure it is completed by
the December 2007 deadline.” He expressed confidence
that there would be no more cost-escalations that would
further increase the project cost of the Bandra-Worli
sealink that is now pegged at Rs 1,306 crore. At present,
around 18.2 per cent of work of the contract-cost has
been completed.
The 5.6 km sealink begins at the Mahim interchange (junction
of the western expressway on SV road) and at its northern
end joins the Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan road on the Worli
seaface. The sealink will support eight traffic lanes
and have two lanes reserved for buses. The project is
being implemented on a build operate and transfer basis
by the MSRDC.
MALLS INVITE
HOTELS
As real estate developers learn the mall game,
they are planning to lease out space to hotel companies.
In Delhi itself, three players plan to have mall hotels
in Saket where the government sanctioned 51 acres of land
for commercial development a year ago. Select Infrastructure
Ltd’s Select City Walk modelled after New York’s
Time Square will house a 100-room hotel in Saket, apart
from an upmarket shopping mall.
DLF also plans to develop a South Court mall that will
have a 60-room hotel and The Courtyard mall that will
have a 100-room hotel. At the same time, hotel companies
are hardselling their brands to mall developers like Sarovar
Park Plaza that is exploring options in east Delhi and
Chandigarh. Omaxe Construction is also building one of
the largest malls in Greater Noida to be called Omaxe
Connaught Place that will also have its own hotel.
DLF TO INVEST
Rs 2,000 CR MORE
The DLF Universal Group plans to invest over
Rs 2,000 crore to build commercial office space of 20
million square feet across the various IT parks, including
in Kolkata and Chandigarh in the first phase of construction.
The amount allotted will be spent to build the targeted
space and they expect the IT and IT-enabled sectors to
go in for such an expansion. Such space would be constructed
in Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai as well. By 2007, the company
plans to offer office space at the Bangalore IT Park.
KNOT IN THE
MALL
Omaxe Construction Ltd has plans to tap into
the Rs 50,000 crore and growing wedding market by setting
up specialty malls. With the concept of wedding malls
having picked up in north India, Omaxe is seeking to establish
wedding malls in north-western India. They have started
by launching construction projects in Gurgaon, Patiala
and Agra. Kunal Banerjee, senior vice-president (marketing),
Omaxe said at a press conference the first wedding mall
was being constructed on the Agra-Delhi highway by Omaxe
with its Joint venture partners in Agra, Sarv Prakash
Developers. The malls are specialty malls that will cater
to all wedding requirements including the trousseau and
booking banquets, to providing beauty parlours & furnishings.
