Land and property prices skyrocket in Howrah, Hoogly; Kolkata

Land prices have skyrocketed on Kona Expressway and stretches of National Highway-2 and National Highway-6. Call it the Singur ripple effect or impact of other projects like the DLF township project in Dankuni and logistic hub on Kona Expressway, land prices have risen at least six fold in the past four years.
Many brokers had even purchased land in the area hoping for the price to shoot up further. An acre of land which cost Rs 24 lakh even five years ago, fetches around Rs 2 crore today.

Property prices have shot up even further on Kona Expressway that serves as a gateway to Singur from Kolkata. Even in 2001, the price per acre there stood at Rs 12 lakh per acre.

“With projects like the Tata Motors small car plant in Singur, the DLF township in Dankuni, Kolkata West International City and the logistic hub on Kona Expressway coming up, it is obvious that property prices would soar. But the delay in these projects and the Singur stalemate are a matter of concern for many,” said Ram Ratan Chowdhury, managing director of Panchadeep Constructions Ltd (PCL). He has been a pioneer in bringing mega projects to Howrah.

If poor infrastructure and lack of development held back real estate prices on the western front of the Hooghly even a few years ago, the upcoming projects are changing the industrial landscape in the Howrah-Hooghly belt, thus pushing up property prices.

Less commuting time, excellent connectivity and ventures by big houses like the Tatas, DLF and the Salim-Ciputra group have made realtors make a beeline for land in the area. The Singur plant is just around 10 kilometre from the point where the Kona Expressway meets NH-6 and NH-2.

Real estate developers and brokers, who have invested in the stretch, are keeping their fingers crossed. For, they feel that the growth of price in real estate will be at a much slower pace if the Tata project shifts from Singur to an alternative location.

“The price of real estate does not change overnight, though there will be an impact on the price of land in that belt in case the Tatas leave. We hope that the Singur stalemate will be solved in a week or so at the most. If the Tatas stay, the price of land is bound to shoot up. Even if they leave, real estate prices will still go up but at a slower pace and rate,” said real estate developer Sumit Dabriwala, managing director of Riverbank Holdings Private Ltd.

Source: re-it.blogspot.in

Alchemist buys land in Kolkata, to invest Rs 600 crore in project

NEW DELHI: National capital-based realty firm Alchemist Township has bought about 20 acre land in Kolkata from a local builder Highland Group and will invest Rs 600 crore to develop a residential project.Property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle India facilitated the deal. Alchemist Group is promoted by K D Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP from Trinamool Congress Party.

“In this deal, Delhi-based real estate developer Alchemist Township India has purchased 2 million square feet of prime residential land from Highland Group at Kolkata Riverside, a satellite township development encompassing 262 acres being developed on the banks of the Hooghly River,” JLL India said in a statement.

When contacted, JLL India Managing Director (Land Services) Mayank Saksena said Alchemist has bought about 20 acre of land but declined to disclose the value of the deal.He also noted that this is the largest land deal between two private parties.

“Altogether, Alchemist Township India Ltd has earmarked approximately Rs 600 crore for this project,” JLL India said.Jones Lang LaSalle India was transaction partner for both the firms in this deal.

A spokesperson from Alchemist Township India said the group intends to develop golf-course facing apartments and group housing on the two plots they have acquired.

Source: The Economic Times

Land sharks taking over farmland in Singur, Govt looks the other way

SINGUR: If an alleged sell-off started a historic revolution in Singur, a sell-out now mocks it. Land sharks allegedly protected by two Trinamool Congress leaders are gobbling up large patches of fertile land near the abandoned Tata Nano site.

Driving down Durgapur Expressway these days, you can see these patches of walled-off land. They tell a story no less coercive than the disputed acquisition during the Left Front government. Only this time, it’s worse because the Mamata Banerjee government claims not to see. And unlike the Nano project, where the government is giving a dole to even land labourers, farmers who are being lured/coerced into selling off their land have no one to turn to.

More than a hundred acres have already changed hands between Dankuni and Singur. And this may just be the tip of the iceberg.

The land sharks are breaking every law in the rulebook — and every resistance on the ground. Farmers who refuse to fall for their offers (that never materialize) suddenly see the plots around their farmland being taken up and walled off. Fly ash is dumped on the other plots, which is washed away by rain to adjoining plots, turning them infertile and leaving the farmer with no option but to accept the offer.

Commerce and industries minister Partha Chatterjee claimed innocence. “I am not aware of any such effort in Singur. However, my department will ascertain whether the land has been purchased for industry. In that case, the government won’t allow conversion of multi-crop land,” he said.

Becharam Manna, once a firebrand leader against the acquisition by the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government, now sees good reason in the sale of land by poor farmers “for a better price”. Junior agriculture minister in the Mamata cabinet, Becharam says: “All these plots come under the low mono-crop category, fetching little for the owners. As far as I know they yield boro crop only. This could be a reason for the sellout. No one has complained against the purchase.” He insists he “won’t allow anything illegal.” “Land developers have to take permission from authorities before they use it for infrastructure or industry,” he says.

So what is the price on offer? “It’s Rs 40 lakh an acre,” says Sushil Kharkia, spokesman of Shyam Industrial Park, who admits fencing off 50 acres. But farmers have a different story. Primary schoolteacher-cum-farmer Swaraj Ghosh said: “I had five bighas in the fenced area. They gave me Rs 8 lakh for an acre. I had no choice. The land sharks used to come to our place and dictate prices. When some farmers refused to sell their land they dumped fly ash on their land,” said Ghosh.

Compare this with the offer of the Left Front government for the Singur land that Mamata called “forcible acquisition”: Rs 8.9 lakh-Rs 12 lakh compensation per acre, an add-on 50% of the compensation price, plus a government job to each landloser family.

Primary schoolteacher-cum-farmer Swaraj Ghosh said, “The new buyers also promised a job in the warehouses, godowns and the mineral water plant to come up on our land. That was three months ago. They didn’t keep their word.”

The owners of these plots have not even taken permission for conversion in the nature of the agricultural land, which is a must under the West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 1955.

“This is a blatant violation of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act. How could land developers fence the land without taking permission when the Mamata Banerjee government is opposed to illegal conversion of farmland?” said environment activist Kunal Guha Ray. She complained to the Hooghly land and land reforms officer on July 2 that Shyam Industrial Park and SKM Housing Pvt Ltd have gathered 117 acres in five mouzas under Singur and Chanditala police stations. She has mentioned the dag numbers.

“We won’t allow the conversion in the nature of land,” said Hooghly district magistrate Manmit Nanda. Sushil Kharkia is at a loss. “We gathered the land to set up small and medium industry units that the chief minister is harping on. We have built the boundary wall only after registration. Some farmers are unwilling to part with their land that comes within our project area,” he said.

Alarmed by the complaint, police rounded up two land agents from Dankuni and eight persons from Chanditala. “We are investigating the complaints as and when we are getting them and taking steps immediately,” said SP Tanmoy Roy Chowdhury.

Private buyout of land in Singur-Chanditala

1. Two firms have allegedly purchased 117 acres (350 bighas) of agricultural land and wetland

2. Roads have been constructed by filling up wetland with flyash

3. Permission has not been taken for conversion of land

4. Price on offer: Rs 40 lakh an acre, but farmers say it is Rs 8-10 lakh an acre

Acquisition by the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government in Singur

1. 997 acres spread over six mouzas in Singur

2. The purpose was to facilitate the setting up of the Tata Nano unit

3. Compensation: Rs 8.9 lakh-Rs 12 lakh per acre, plus 50% of compensation price and a job to each landloser family

Source: The Times of India

Land deals push up real estate prices in Kolkata

Defying the overall slowdown in the real estate sector, exorbitant land prices are pushing housing prices in Kolkata.

Land prices have gone up by more than 50 per cent in many plush localities, as demand remains steady and hardly any new townships have come up in urban and semi-urban areas in city fringes.

The recent land auction by government bodies like Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and Housing Infrastructure and Development Corporation (Hidco) give a fair idea of the burgeoning land prices in the city. In June this year, KMC sold a 2-acre plot on EM Bypass for Rs 115 crore, making it the biggest land deal in the city so far. The last big land deal was in 2009, when a 3.35-acre plot on EM Bypass sold for Rs 135 crore. More recently, in the IT township of Rajarhat, a 2.5-acre plot for a retail-cum-office complex fetched Rs 51.13 crore for Hidco.

“The value of land has gone up by around 50 per cent in Kolkata, the impact of which will be reflected in the upcoming project. The land supply is reducing, but the demand remains steady and there are hardly any new townships coming up to meet the demand,” said Santosh Rungta, a city-based realtor.

The abysmal rise in land prices in West Bengal is not new. Around 2009, in the earlier Left Front regime, government agencies made windfall gains by selling land in prime locations.

For example, three prominent government agencies involved in land deals in and around Kolkata · The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), Kolkata Municipal Corporation and West Bengal Housing Board· signed deals worth more thanRs 18,000 crore, for over 5,250 acres of land during the period in little over two years. In fact, KMDA was credited with signing deals, worth more thanRs 800 crore with real estate developers on a single day.

One of the biggest hurdles in developing new townships in West Bengal is the the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act (ULCA), 1976. According to the Act, the ceiling limit on vacant land in a category ‘A’ city like Kolkata is 7.5 cottah or about 500 square meters.

West Bengal is one of the few states in the country to have a legislation like the ULCA. The move is in sync with the apprehensions of the chief minister. After all, Banerjee had once wondered, “What will happen if someone wants to buy the city?”

The demand for repealing the ULCA was raised for the first time by Godrej Properties chairman Adi Godrej, at an industry meet within the first month of Banerjee taking over the chief minister’s office.

However, much to the disappointment of the developers, urban development minister Firhad Hakim has recently ruled out the possibility of repealing the Act. “We are not going to abolish the Land Ceiling Act,” he said. “Instead, we will give permission to developers for purchase of land beyond ceiling, provided they reserve 30 per cent housing for low-income housing segment.”

“In Kolkata, the real estate prices have not gone down, and the market is steady. Prices have gone up by around 15 per cent in some localities,” said Pradip Chopra, chairman and managing dierctor, PS Group.

Notably, unlike the real estate market in Delhi and Mumbai, in Kolkata the real estate sector is driven by consumers, rather than investors. As a result, the prices generally remain steady in times of boom or slowdown.

Thus, even as the housing market in the city has been insulated to recession, the commercial real estate market has been facing a slowdown.

“The occupancy rate office space is low and there are lot of vacant spaces in Sector V and Rajarhat,” said Chopra.

The growth of commercial real estate market is slow in Kolkata, even as the housing market has been growing. In some cases the office rentals have also corrected, but prices have not gone down,” said Pradeep Sureka, Managing Director of the Sureka Group.

Source: The Business Standard

Land buying tips for real estate investors

KOLKATA: Check the land deed twice before you buy a plot from a broker. Chances are that the deed is fake, a clone of the original, like counterfeit notes. Land deed cloning is the Ponzi firm’s latest gift to fraudulent trade in the state.

TOI has learnt that Ponzi firm owners had started the fraud with a section of Bank and land registration officials. They fake signatures and seal of the land registration authorities, thus selling the same plot to many buyers. Hundreds of complaints have poured into the Shyamal Sen commission’s office set up to probe the Saradha muddle, where many have lodged co plaints against fake land deeds, apart from asking for a refund of money. Such fake dealings in the way of multiple mortgages have also added to the bad assets of banks.

“Most of the cases involving fake or cloned documents in land deals have been reported from districts like South and North 24-Parganas and Nadia,” said Dipankar Mukherjee, secretary of the All India Bank officers’ Confederation (West Bengal state unit).

Alarmed with the situation, the state government had started to confiscate land lying with the suspicious companies. The government has started to seize land of companies that have more than 24 acre in possession.

“The trend of duping banks by forging land deeds was high in the middle of the past decade. City police have busted several rackets where fraudsters had managed to get bank loans with forged documents, and in some cases loans were obtained from different banks showing the same land or property. In several cases, probe unearthed a nexus between the fraudsters and a section of bank employees. But now, after busting several rackets, we have managed to buck the trend,” said Pallav Kanti Ghosh, joint CP (Crime), Kolkata Police.

According to bank sources, the fraudsters close land documents and sell the same piece of land to several people. “It is difficult to make out the fake from the original as those are done very meticulously. They even copy stamp of the registering authorities and signature on the original,” said a bank official.

T R Chawla, executive director of Allahabad Bank, said most of the frauds that are reported are done by individuals. “We have seen cases where documents were faked but mostly these are done by individuals, rather than any corporate entity,” he said.

Although the number of land frauds has come down after the banks in the state have started using Central Registry of Securitisation Asset Reconstruction and Security Interest (CERSAI), the fraudsters have taken innovative routes to dupe people. “There is a mechanism that allows us to search if that land had already been mortgaged with any bank. But if that land is already sold to an individual and has no mortgage records, it is difficult to track it down,” Mukherjee said.

According to Deepak Narang, executive director of United Bank of India, “We have been able to contain such frauds after the banks have started using certified copies of land deeds and using CERSAI extensively.

Source: The Times of India