Realty News Roundup: Maha Govt Aims 3L Affordable Homes In Mumbai By 2016; MCG Issues List Of 43 Govt-Owned Sites Encroached By Private Cos

Realty News Roundup is PropGuide's selection of top stories from the real estate sector

Top News

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has asked real estate developers to focus on affordable residential projects in Mumbai, apart from their ongoing premium projects. Fadnavis has assured to provide all kind of support needed by the developers, in terms of making the process hassle-free. The state aims to build 3,00,000 affordable homes in Mumbai by 2016. Read more.

The Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) has issued a list of 43 government construction sites, which have been encroached upon by private companies. This includes high-rise buildings in areas, including Ghata, Badshapur, Pawla Khusrupur, Gwalpahari, Choma, Silokhra, etc. In an interview with ETRealty Vikas Gupta, Commissioner, MCG said that none of the developers sought permission from Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) or MCG before usurping government land, adding, when MCG served eviction notices, most managed to get stay orders on the disputed land. Read more.

 Off the frontpage

According to a latest report released by a real estate research firm, the realty slowdown has finally hit the markets of Bengaluru and Chennai. The number of launches have fallen from an average of 11,500 units per quarter to 7,100 units in the third quarter of the calendar year 2015. Read more.

Indiabulls Real Estate plans to cut its debt by Rs 1,850 crore by March 2017. The company, in the second quarter this year, had cut debt by Rs 300 crore. By end of September, the net debt of the developer stood at Rs 5,153 crore as against Rs 5,461 crore at the end of the June quarter. Read more.

Opinion

In this interview, Dr. Chandrashekar Hariharan, Executive Chairman and Co-founder of BCIL ZED Homes, talks about how public participation can be a key driver of the Smart Cities Mission. "The Citizen engagement workshops are an opportunity. It's like the ballot. If citizens attend, and offer their suggestions, and persist with reminders to the websites that each city has created, that'll be valuable," he said. Hariharan is also a core committee member of the CII India Green Business Council and co-author of the IGBC Residential Green Guidelines.