Related Links: Link to Golden State Capital Website As India’s real estate sector suffers from a liquidity crunch and continues to undergo growth pains as it moves towards maturity, San Francisco-based private equity firm Golden State Capital (GSC) is viewing Foreign Direct Investments into the arena of office assets.With construction costs rising in India, the firm is confident on the long-term potential. GSC is looking at a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) “of above $500 million … [with] assets built and leased in the last two to four years in a very competitive environment, besides stabilized assets with blue-chip tenants,”
Land acquisition, a major impediment to large infrastructure projects in India, has in the past delayed private companies' development plans while they sort out litigation over land ownership and compensation.Land costs that a decade ago comprised 10% of investment have increased to around 22%. National bank data released in March revealed infrastructure projects worth $145 billion were being held up.To address issues related to land, Parliament has cleared the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Law, which now replaces the archaic 1894 law. Expected to come into effect by mid-2014, it has evoked a
Related Links: Bids Solicited for Tunneling in India's Treacherous Himalayas India Blackout Affects 600 Million People Chicago-based design firm dbHMS is finalizing a master plan with the goal of making India’s $260-million Nalanda University campus a net-zero energy user. The 370,000-sq-meter project in Rajgir, in the eastern state of Bihar, is expected to start construction by the end of 2013.dbHMS is working with architects Vastu Shilpa Consultant of India, which won the project via the university’s international design competition.According to the firm, the plan for the Nalanda project is to install the world’s first application of a non-experimental desiccant-assisted evaporative
Related Links: Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh describes rail link project as the dream of the nation As part of a national project to link the harsh, mountainous Himalayan terrain of the northern Jammu region with the Kashmir Valley by a 293-kilometer-long, broad-gauge railway line—the J&K Rail Link Project—government-owned Indian Railway Construction Co. Ltd has released an invitation for bids for two packages with a combined expected cost of about $140 million.The packages, called T49A and T49B, are for the construction of tunnels, embankments and bridges for a 14.8-km-long link to be completed in 48 months. The last date
Related Links: China and India Vie For Work in Surrounding Nations India Unveils Annual Budget to Skittish Infra Investors Chinese firms are eyeing construction projects in India for future revenue growth but already are beginning to see the constraints of doing business there. Long waits for visas, clearance issues and other factors stand in the way. Still, many industry experts expect the list of Sino-Indian projects to expand soon.Trade between the once warring neighbors exceeded $66 billion in 2012 and is expected to reach $100 billion by 2015, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. Geopolitics also is playing a
AP Indo-Tibetan border police use a rope to rescue stranded pilgrims on June 20. Ministry of Defense Many roads were damaged by landslides, cutting off access for residents and tourists. Rescue and restoration efforts are still under way. Related Links: India Unveils Annual Budget to Skittish Infra Investors Growth in India's Infrastructure Markets Projected In India, heavy June rains have killed more than 5,000 and stranded more than 19,000 people in the northern states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh as landslides and flooded rivers cut off major routes and devastated the area's Himalayan foothills. The torrents washed away more than
Photo by Nural Alam, ADPC The eight-story reinforced-concrete building near Dhaka had three illegal floors and a fourth on the way; further, it was built for a commercial occupancy but used as a factory. A rapid structural assessment of the fatal collapse of an eight-story reinforced-concrete building near Dhaka, Bangladesh, uncovered major flaws in the building’s construction and multiple causes for the April 24 disaster. The building in Savar had been turned into a garment factory. To date, there have been more than 700 fatalities. The death toll is expected to rise to 1,000.The tragedy has triggered a review of
Courtesy of Mass Rapid Transit Corp. Kuala Lumpur's mass rapid-transit line, now under construction, is worth more than $10 billion. Related Links: Viewpoint: Vietnam, Indonesia Hold Opportunity for U.S. Firms Kuala Lumpur's MRT Line Economic growth in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia will remain strong at an average 6% this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. The countries represent the top five economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.While China’s recovery is “foggy,” with a growth rate of 7.8% last year to a forecasted 8.2% in 2013 and 8% in 2014, “ASEAN’s economy is
AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool Rescue workers look for trapped people after a residential building collapsed in Thane, Mumbai, India, on April 4. Related Links: BBC: Indian Police Arrest Nine in Mumbai Building Collapse Reuters: Death Toll Rises to 72 in Mumbai Building Bollapse An eight-story apartment building that collapsed and killed more than 70 people in Mumbai has exposed India's illegal housing sector, corruption among builders and a lack of policy in place to keep the public safe. Before it toppled, the building had been under construction for about five weeks, sources familiar with the accident say.As developing cities expand, the
AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade Indian laborers use machinery to dig at a construction site in Mumbai. India's economic growth slowed to a 5.3% annual rate in last year's first quarter, the lowest in nine years. Meanwhile, inflation has averaged 9.2% a year since the start of 2010. Related Links: Growth in India's Infrastructure Markets Projected Amid PPP Slowdown, India Turns to Cash Contracts Corruption, regulatory bottlenecks and other hurdles have slowed down the pace of infrastructure development in India. Having just released their current budget, however, lawmakers in India are making a strong effort to reach out to investors to help