This means relaxations of the floor area ratio (FAR) for these soon-to-be ex-Lutyens addresses and the possible arrival of highrises in areas known for grand low-rise residences. Also, since the Lutyens ‘premium’ on real estate prices in these areas may get reduced or may go, new building activity will get an additional boost.

Industry captains with LBZ residences include LN Mittal, Naveen Jindal, KP Singh, Sunil Mittal, Shashi and Ravi Ruia of the Essar Group, Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, and Analjit Singh.

The political and industrial super elites’ residences will remain in the smaller LBZ, but many of Delhi’s wealthiest residences will lose the tag of being in LBZ. People familiar with the DUAC panel’s final report on LBZ told ET superposh areas set to be excluded from Lutyens are: Golf Links, Jor Bagh, Sunder Nagar, Chanakyapuri, Panchsheel Marg, Sardar Patel Marg, Ashoka Road and Bengali Market. The report is with the Union urban development ministry, and it says LBZ’s square area should come down from 28.73 sq km to 23.60 sq km. This restricts LBZ to the original British Raj era plan, authored by Edwin Lutyens in 1912.

The original Lutyens plan included the Capital’s heritage buildings and government buildings. In 1988, LBZ area of 25.88 sq km was demarcated for the first time. It was increased to 28.73 sq km in 2003. Inclusion in LBZ has sent real estate prices spiralling in new areas. People familiar with the report said DUAC had received objections that excluding certain areas from LBZ will mean “overcrowding,”a “change of character” for these areas. But the commission decided that LBZ needs to go back to its original plan.

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Cash-strapped Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) will spend Rs 500 crore to acquire land for the construction of the central peripheral road (CPR) at a cost of Rs 22.80 crore.

The 3.5-km road will link the Dwarka Expressway with NH-8 on one side and Manesar on the other. A detailed project report is ready and the proposal costing Rs 22.80 crore has been sent to the Huda chief engineer for approval.

CPR will connect the Dwarka Expressway with NH-8 in the absence of a direct link between the two highways. The road link will also boost real estate.

P Raghavendra Rao, additional chief secretary, Town and Country Planning department, said on Thursday that Huda will announce awards for acquisition of land within a month and land will be acquired at the earliest. “Not only CPR, but all other important road projects will be completed on priority basis,” said Rao.

Because of land acquisition issues at Kherki Daula, a direct connection between the NPR and the expressway is delayed. Huda has not been able to acquire a 200-metre stretch close to Kherki Daula that could pave the way for completion of the 18.3 km expressway.

CPR road link has also assumed significance because Huda plans to operationalise the 11 km stretch of the Dwarka Expressway, which has been built from Kherki Daula to New Palam Vihar, by the end of August this year.

To acquire land for the project, the land acquisition department of Huda has written a letter to the director, urban estates, asking for Rs 499 crore before May 15 to buy land from the villagers. It is proposed that 0.5 acres land in village Harasaru be acquired for Rs 1.88 crore per acre, 52 acres in Sihi be acquired at Rs 1.91 crore per acre, 15 acres in Mohdpur jharsa at Rs 2.18 crore, 31.60 acres in Narsinghpur for Rs 2.40 crore per acre.

With the additional chief secretary giving directions that land acquisition for this road be completed in a month, Huda officials said that they will acquire the land and construct the road in the next two months as soon as the money is transferred to them.

Huda administrator Hardeep Singh said that they are taking up the CPR project on priority along with completion of other key infrastructure projects in the city.

Higher transparency

There are numerous horror stories of buyers booking flats in a project during pre-launch, only to find out later that the necessary approvals have not been obtained. The Bill seeks to clamp down on developers by disallowing pre-launches of projects where approvals from the local authorities and registration from the regulator are pending. Developers will have to disclose approval status, project layout and timeframe for completion to the regulator and customers.

Timely possession

Often the reason for inordinate project delays is diversion of funds to other projects. The developer will now have to park 70% of the project funds in a dedicated bank account at the outset, which can only be used for the earmarked project. “This would ensure timely construction and act as a safeguard in the event of any inordinate delays,” says Sanjay Dutt, MD (India), Cushman & Wakefield.

Know what you are paying for

Developers will now have to sell homes on the basis of ‘carpet area’ and not the ‘super built-up area’. The latter was often misused by developers to levy additional charges for common areas.

Get what you are promised

Builders often advertise designs and amenities of a project, only to deliver a finished product far removed from the claims. Developers will now have to return payment with interest to buyers who are misled by statements or representations in any form. Also, the developer will not be allowed to make any changes to the original plan midway without the written consent of at least two-third of buyers. In case of any deficiency noticed after handover of possession, the buyer can contact the developer within a year to seek after-sales service.

Developers have to be accountable

The Act proposes to bring parity between the buyer and seller by making the latter liable to pay the customer the same interest as demanded of the buyer. In case of disputes, the Appellate tribunals will have to adjudicate within 60 days and regulatory authorities will have to dispose of complaints in 60 days. The Act also provides for imprisonment up to three years in case of promoters and up to one year in case of real estate agents and buyers for violation of orders of tribunals or monetary penalties or both.

Relief for existing buyers also

Existing buyers facing delay in getting possession will also be covered under the new Act. While under-construction properties are sought to be brought under its ambit, it is unclear how this will be implemented.

Given weak private investment in the face of low capacity utilisation, a reduction in the policy rate by 0.25 per cent will help strengthen growth, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said in the first bi-monthly monetary policy review for the 2016-17 fiscal, which began on April 1.

Accordingly, the repo rate, at which RBI lends to the financial system, has come down to 6.5 per cent.

The cut was broadly in line with expectations. However, the stock market reacted negatively and the BSE index, Sensex, was down nearly 300 points.

Rajan also took a host of measures on the liquidity front, starting with the narrowing of the policy rate corridor to 0.50 per cent from the earlier 1 percentage point, which resulted in the reverse repo rate – at which banks can park excess funds with the RBI – being reset at 6 per cent.

The policy said the average overnight borrowings by banks have increased to Rs 1,935 billion in march from Rs 1,345 billion in January.

Stating that the inflation objectives are closer to being realised and price-rise will hover around the 5 per cent mark for the remainder of the fiscal, Rajan reaffirmed that the monetary policy will continue to remain accommodative to address the growth concerns.

RBI also retained its GDP growth forecast at 7.6 per cent, on the assumption of a normal monsoon and a boost to consumption through the implementation of the Seventh Pay panel recommendations.

The central bank said it expects the implementation to hurt inflation by 1-1.5 per cent over a two year period, but added that the shock will not be as strong as that felt during the implementation of the sixth pay panel suggestions.

Rajan welcomed the government move to amend the RBI Act to create a monetary policy committee, saying it will further strengthen the policy s credibility.

He also welcomed the government’s adherence to the path of fiscal consolidation, calling it as a commendable commitment this will support the disinflation process going forward.

The Reserve Bank reiterated the need for a better translation of its policy actions into the lending rates by banks, adding that measures like reduction in the small savings rates, refinements in the liquidity management framework announced in the policy and the introduction of the marginal cost of lending based lending rates will help in this regard.

Rajan had last cut the key rates at the September 2015 review by a surprising 0.50 per cent, stating that the RBI is “frontloading” through the measure but affirmed that the central banks continues to hold the accommodative stance.

Conducive government actions and macroeconomic data had heightened expectations of a rate cut by Rajan in the first bi-monthly policy announcement for 2016-17.

At 5.18 per cent for February, the headline inflation was trending lower than expectation, making it easier for the RBI to achieve its goals.

The government’s affirmation of sticking to the fiscal consolidation path in the budget by promising to bring down the fiscal deficit to 3.5 per cent in the current fiscal, and also a reduction in the small savings rates flagged by RBI in earlier policy announcements only bolstered the demands for the cut.

Repeated contraction in the factory output, which came in at a negative 1.5 per cent in January, had also upped the demands for the growth-boosting measure of a cut in the key policy rates.

With the liquidity being tight in the recent months, there were expectations of measures on this front.

On the regulatory side, RBI said it is mulling a regime where large borrowers (which account for a bulk of the NPAs) shall be mandated to go to the market for a part of their funding rather than relying on banks completely.

RBI also proposed to redefine bank branches and permissible methods of outreach.

It will also issue a discussion paper to go ahead on the differentiated banking and look into the introduction of custodian banks and wholesale banks, the policy document said.

Talwar was unanimously elected as Chairman at the 103rd Governing Council Meeting of National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) held yesterday.

“NAREDCO is pleased to announce the appointment of Rajeev Talwar as the new Chairman,” the industry body said in a statement.

Parveen Jain, CMD of Tulip Infratech, was elected as President of the NAREDCO in September last year.

NAREDCO was established as an autonomous self-regulatory body in 1998 under the aegis of Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India.

Talwar, who joined DLF in 2006, completed his master’s degree from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University.

He started his career as a Probationary Officer in State Bank of India and was selected for Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1978. He held many important positions in the central and state governments.

Talwar is also the Chairman of Real Estate Committees at various industry chambers and associations. He has been vocal on various forums and has been actively pursuing issues, challenges faced by the sector.

Rupesh Singh, head of IGBC for UP said, “Development authorities charge a hefty sum from those builders who want to purchase an additional 5% FAR. After the new orders, if a building after construction is considered eco-friendly according to the Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) and Indian Green Council building norms, then the 5% additional FAR will be given for free.”

Singh explained that a green building was not a product but a process that looks at site selection, right design, proper material use, energy and water efficiency and use of renewable resources. “A green building does not depend on electricity as it uses natural light. In construction, a green building does minimum damage to the environment as it does not exploit groundwater and uses prefabricated eco-friendly materials,” he added.

The IGBC head also remarked that municipal corporations and other authorities should incentivize green buildings because they use less resources, thereby reducing pressure on civic services like water supply and garbage disposal.

KC Jain, Radico president, said, “Government’s encouragement will surely pave the way for development of green buildings. Extra FAR will benefit real estate in Agra, developers and builders must transfer it to buyers to present a new smart concept to the latter. Citizens at present are less aware about green buildings. Initially, cost of green property will be more than usual but maintenance charges, water charges, electricity consumption are significantly low. In India operational cost savings, increased market value, increased asset value, green corporate image and reducing incremental cost are the factors backing the green concept.”

According to state government orders issued to development authorites, green buildings after every five years will have to present green norms fulfillment certificate to the development authority. The orders also permit extra FAR for ongoing construction on fulfillment of green norms.

Saurabh from Bangalore booked an apartment in January 2014 after taking a home loan from a well known bank. However, now he wants to cancel the booking and is ready to bear the necessary monetary loss. He wrote to Magicbricks.com enquiring about his available options while cancelling the booking?

Buyers like Saurabh, who due to various reasons, are forced to cancel their booked property. However, the path to booking cancella ..