Ludhiana City Centre jinxed & junked Launched with a lot of glitz and fanfare the ambitious Ludhiana City Centre project, the Congress government’s dream project, became the ‘centre of controversy’ as soon as the government changed in the state. While the legal battle rages in courts, rust and rot have set in at the construction site and several investors have burnt their fingers and suffered huge losses making them wary of government-sponsored projects, reports Navin S. Grewal

The Ludhiana City Centre scam has left many genuine investors disillusioned and sceptic about government-sponsored projects. Infrastructure worth several crores put into the project is destined to go waste as the project has been stopped pending enquiry and it is also likely to sink several crore rupees put into the project by investors, many of whom are now reluctant to come and claim their share out of fear of being hounded by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau.

Illegal colonies dot Faridabad
Illegal colonies not only spoil the character of a city but also burden the limited infrastructure, thus putting a spanner in development works, reports Ravi S. Singh
The Haryana government’s plan to develop Faridabad as a well-planned city is being undermined on account of continued illegal and unplanned growth of colonies and other residential clusters. If Faridabad once earned the notoriety of being a slum haven inviting uncharitable descriptions regarding its planning, now the city is witnessing unbridled growth of illegal colonies on a large scale.

Go exclusive Arti Kapur A huge influx of sparkling malls with finely tuned marketing strategies has certainly gripped every shopping enthusiast in this millennium city. However, with the growing competition theme or speciality malls are setting new trends and transforming the fundamental activity of shopping into a lifestyle statement.

Realty regulator role mooted for National Housing Board
HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh has suggested that National Housing Bank should be made the real estate regulator at the national level to ensure orderly growth of the property market. “National Housing Bank could take up the role of an apex real estate regulator,” Parekh said at a conference organised by Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Association in New Delhi.

Where are affordable homes for the poor? Despite the realty boom a worrying scenario has emerged vis-a-vis meeting the basic requirement of shelter for the poor and the marginalised. S. Satyanarayanan reports from the CREDAI national conference The year 2007 saw an unprecedented boom in Indian real estate sector with foreign investors pouring their money into India and some of the big domestic players making it big by launching several real estate projects.

HOME DECOR The soft touch Soft flooring options are gaining a firm ground in Indian homes, reports Vishal Gulati With access to global trends in interior décor becoming easy, more and more Indian homes are opting for soft floorings as compared to the traditional hard concrete floors. Soft floorings have become the in thing, thanks to the arrival of international brands like Berry Floors, Pergo, Crono, etc, in Indian markets.

GROUND REALTY The best bet for water supply pipes Galvanised Iron, PVC, Stainless Steel, Copper, there is plenty to choose from while selecting water supply pipes for your home or commercial buildings. Jagvir Goyal gives guidelines to help you choose the right kind of pipes

What is the right material for water supply pipes?’ This is one question that keeps hovering in the minds of all house builders. When asked, engineers, architects, suppliers and users express different opinions thus increasing the confusion. Earlier, only GI pipes were available and there was no alternative thus no confusion prevailed. Now, PVC, copper and composite pipes have arrived in the market and choice has become difficult.

Now enjoy snore-free snooze Those who loved dreaming in a duvet, it is a bed that makes dreams real. You could throw a party in the “Starry night sleeping centre” with its surround-sound system and a TV projector in the headboard capable of beaming images up to 10 ft across on to the facing wall. If you are a workaholic, you could remain busy with an attached computer, internet connection and wireless keypad.

Real News
Jewellery group to invest 1,000 cr in realty sector
New Delhi: AMR Group, mainly engaged in gold and jewellery business, is foraying into the booming property market and plans to invest about Rs 1,000 crore in the next two years to develop three real estate projects in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

TAX TIPS
Is insurance claim amount taxable?
by S.C. Vasudeva
Q. We are a partnership concern and are manufacturing industrial fasteners. The factory building and the machinery was completely destroyed by a fire which broke out on account of short circuit. Is the amount received from insurance company with regard to the destruction of these assets exigible to capital gains tax? I am advised that there has been some change in law, which brings such an amount to taxability.

Buzz on Bourses
Ramky Infrastructure to raise Rs 50 cr through pre-IPO sales
Mumbai: Hyderabad-based construction player Ramky Infrastructure plans to raise around Rs 50 crore from Foreign Institutional Investors and Private Equity players before its issue hits the capital market. “We have plans to make some pre-IPO placement. Two private equity players and a couple of FIIs have evinced interest to buy equity shares.

Realty shares command highest PE ratio
Mumbai: Companies engaged in realty sector are commanding highest Price Earning (PE) ratio on stock exchanges at present followed by firms from the capital goods and power sectors. According to the Bombay Stock Exchange which computes PE for its dozen odd sectoral indices, the average PE of BSE Realty Index was as high as 71.55 as on January 4, while the average PE ratio for BSE Capital Goods was second highest at 51.20.