Coimbatore real estate continues to boom

Though the real-estate market in Coimbatore is set to see nearly twice the number of apartment units entering the housing segment in the city next year, the industry remains unfazed about it causing any glut or demand stagnation. The residents of Coimbatore are also likely to see the skylines of the city being dotted with (mini) skyscrapers as almost 10-12 apartment projects of 8-14 floors in each block are likely to come up in the city next year which, however, is not likely to cause any easing of rates due to factors such as the need for more open spaces and increased construction cost.

Mr Rajesh B. Lund, Vice-President of the Tamil Nadu unit of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI) and Managing Director of Srivari Property Developers, Coimbatore, said the Coimbatore market annually absorbed about 2,000-3,000 units of two- and three-bedroom apartments. His expectation was that next year, 4,000-6,000 units would come into the market with majority of them catering to the ‘mid-segment' with up to 1,500 sq.ft in area and consisting of two- and three-bedrooms. The rates could be between Rs 2,700/sq.ft and Rs 4,000/sq.ft depending on the location but excluding prized areas such as Race Course, R. S. Puram and Saibaba Colony where the land price is much higher and space is scarce.

Coimbatore already has apartment complexes of up to 8-10 floors. But they will become more pronounced, thanks to the changes in the Development Control Rules (DCR) a few months ago and would come up chiefly off the arterial Avinashi road, Tiruchi road, Sathyamangalam road and Mettupalayam road. Most of the apartment complexes here would have 8-12 floors. The number of units would depend on the extent of land but builders would require a large area for such projects as they would require more open areas.

Mr Lund said his company had two projects on the drawing board — one in Vilankurichi having 10 floors, off Avinashi road, and the other on the Mettupalayam road having 12 floors. Mr Lund said the new DCR, which came into force in June this year, has allowed the builders to go for higher floors subject to certain norms, such as road width being more than 60 ft. This would allow for more open space and ‘breathing space' and more recreation area for the residents. In Coimbatore, a large number of apartment complexes are of G+3 floor type that cover nearly 60 per cent of the plot area.

But he ruled out cost of apartments in such skyscrapers coming down — citing factors such as higher construction cost due to the need to lay a stronger foundation, cost of conveying material, labour cost and the longer duration of construction that pushes up the financial cost of projects etc, apart from increasing land cost. While there may not be any price reduction due to higher floors being allowed, the builders may tweak the size of the apartments so that the overall purchase cost could be affordable. There were good contractors in the city capable of executing such large projects but the city has not yet reached the level of building genuine skyscrapers of 20 to 30 floors as in Mumbai.

He estimated that the high-rises being planned here would have an average built-up area of 50,000 sq.ft to 2 lakh sq.ft each and their USP was they would provide a better quality of life as living space would be more and at higher floors one may not need air-conditioners.

As done in Mumbai, would he charge extra for each higher floor beyond a level in his forthcoming project? Mr Lund said, “ideally we would like to charge (as in Mumbai) but we will address it at the time of bookings.”

No correction likely

Mr V.Mohan, Managing Director, Mayflower Enterprises Pvt Ltd, Coimbatore, who is also planning to enter this high-rise segment, said a lot of such projects are under approval in the city and next year would see many of them being launched. But as there are not many roads that are 60 ft wide, the places where these could come up would be fewer. He said the large number of launches next year is not expected to have an unsettling impact on the realty market. Any realtor, including a market biggie from Bangalore planning to enter the city, will phase out their execution and “definitely correction will not happen” since compared with land price the apartments are ‘realistically priced' in Coimbatore.

Mr V.Subramanian, Executive Director, Ramani Realtors Pvt Ltd, Coimbatore, said the major advantage of Coimbatore was that even in prime areas such as R.S.Puram or Ram Nagar, flats could be bought for Rs 4,500-5,000 per sq.ft, a luxury not available in many other cities. What was of concern to the builders was the high cost of land. The demand was for flats in the Rs 35-Rs 50 lakh price band but as buyers in this segment are price-sensitive, developers have to tread cautiously.

Athikadavu – Avanashi scheme

The survey for preparation of Detailed Project Report will include some of the areas that were left out in the initial plan for undertaking the survey.

This was decided at a review meeting undertaken by the Union Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications, A. Raja under instructions from the Chief Minister. The meeting was attended by Highways Minister Vellakoil M.P. Saminathan, the Principal Secretary to Government for Public Works Department and PWD officials at the Secretariat.

The scheme is aimed at utilising the two tmc.ft of surplus water during floods in Bhavani. The canal that starts from Pilloor ends at Achampalayam, near Annur. The scheme will benefit lakhs of people living in Coimbatore, Tirupur and Erode districts. It was felt that places such as Agraharasamakulam, Kondayampalayam, Ellapalayam, Telugupalayam, Devampalayam and Pachapalayam were left in the survey plan and now the officials have been asked to include these places as well.

The Minister exhorted the officials to make sure that the width of the canal was adequate enough to take more water since the scheme envisages tapping the water only during the floods.

The Public Works Department has assured to provide the report on completion of the survey by March 2011. The survey done so far has indicated that the project could be implemented at an outlay of Rs. 650 crore. On getting the report, the State with the assistance from the Union Government would undertake the implementation of the scheme.

Patni Campus recuritment in Coimbatore

Patni computers Ltd is visiting Karpagam university here on September 15 for a campus recruitment, which is open to students\alumni from all colleges.

Those interested should register with patniku@gmail.com by sending a mail.

The mail should furnish relevant details including the candidate's name, roll no, qualification, college name, percentage of marks obtained in Standard X and Plus-Two and graduation, mobile number and e-mail ID. Eligible candidates will get a response to their mail.

For details, contact 9750545093\8012959379.

TIDEL Park to be operational by year 2011

The Coimbatore Tidel Park that was inaugurated by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi here on August 2 is expected to become operational before next January.

Some companies have booked space at the park and a couple of large-scale companies are also expected to occupy space at the Tidel, according to an official here. The Government has reduced the rent from Rs. 30 a sq ft to Rs. 25 a sq ft and has also brought down the advance amount for rental to six months. The minimum area to be occupied by a company at the park is also flexible though the Government has fixed it at 5,000 sq ft, the official said.

The park is located in a 56-acre special economic zone and has a total built up area of 17 lakh sq ft.

Bharathiar University 2010 UG and PG results

Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, has declared the result of various undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) programmes of School of Distance Education. The exams were conducted in May 2010. To know more about the results, candidates can visit the university's official website: http://www.b-u.ac.in/.

Bharathiar University, named after the famous Tamil poet Subramania Bharathiar, is an important center of higher education at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. Educational jurisdiction of the University is spread over the districts of Coimbatore, Erode and the Nilgiris. It is located at the foothills of Maruthamalai, in a sprawling campus at a distance of a few kilometers from Coimbatore, on Maruthamalai Road. The University has been accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) with A Grade.

Shops closed to protest land acquisition for airport

About 100 shopkeepers in Chinniyampalayam and Kalapatti downed shutters to air their protest against land acquisition for expansion of the city airport. The shopkeepers said their business would be hit due to expansion, as majority of the houses would be demolished and residents moved to other places. They demanded that the administration and Airports Authority shelve the project or find some alternative place, without disturbing the residents and also trade and business. The residents were already on agitational path and had stages protests by hoisting blackflag atop their houses, and organising day long fasts.

Coimbatore handset distributor appointed WORLDSIM distributor

The Coimbatore headquartered handset distributor, Hush10 Telecom private limited,has been appointed exclusive master distributor of WORLDSIM, a global roaming SIM card, manufactured by the UK Based Worldsim, a leading Mobile Virtual Network Operator.

The WORLDSIM card enabled customers to get free incoming calls in 80 countries and outgoing calls from over 200 countries at highly competitive rates,a Hush10 press release said. Customers could save on roaming charges by using this card while travelling across the world.However, the card would not work in India in keeping with directives of Telecommunications ministry, the release added. Joshna Chinnappa, national squsash champion, received the first simcard from Abu Thahir, Chairmen, Hush10, at a function here, marking the national launch of the card.

NTC sells off properties thru online auction

Online auction for the 2.39-acre Poddar Mills at Worli got off to a flying note on Thursday with bids soaring past the reserve price of Rs250 crore fixed by the National Textile Corporation (NTC). With eight bidders participating in the process over three days, the bids had touched Rs285 crore by Thursday night.

NTC is expected to make hefty profits through this bidding process so that the money can be used for the implementation of its revival scheme. NTC has drawn up a roadmap to generate Rs5,000 crore during the current financial year by selling its properties in the city and a few small properties in Indore, Kanpur, Bangalore and Coimbatore

AIADMK shows its strength in Coimbatore

Tamil Nadu‘s main opposition party, AIADMK held a mammoth public meeting in the industrial city of Coimbatore on Tuesday to protest
against price rise and "anti-people policies" of Centre and State Government.
It also used the opportunity to showcase its strength in the Kongu region, considered one of its traditional bastions. The region comprises of Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode, Salem, Namakkal, Karur and Pollachi.

The protest meeting, which comes barely a fortnight after DMK government organised World Classical Tamil Conference, is being viewed in political circles a counter-show by AIADMK. In Coimbatore district alone the party has nine MLAs from 12 constituencies. IT has four Lok Sabha MPs from the Kongu region ( Tirupur, Karur,Pollachi and Salem). Its ally MDMK has an MP from Erode and CPM one from Coimbatore. The protest rally was also aimed at galvanising the party cadre for the upcoming assembly election next year.

Party general secretary, J Jayalalithaa led the stir highlighting issues like frequent increase in fuel prices, shortfall in agriculture production, high inflation, spiraling prices of essential commodities, severe power shortage, ill effects of online trading, rampant sale of fake and time expired medicines and deteriorating law and order situation in the State.

She also lashed out at DMK government’s populist schemes like Rs 1 per kg rice, free colour TV and health insurance scheme stating that "they were mainly devised to facilitate business opportunities for the family of the TN chief minister, M Karunanidhi." While being critical of the DMK government and its rule in the last four years, Ms Jayalalithaa urged the party cadres to kick start the election work and assured them that she would decide on forging an alliance reflecting their wishes.

"This is election year and let us take the pledge to start working towards bringing back MGR rule in the State," she told the huge gathering amidst thunderous applause. Like the Tamil conference extravaganza, the demonstration by AIADMK also brought the textile city to a standstill for a few hours in the afternoon. "Kongu region is our stronghold and with this mobilisation of huge crowd, we have proved that we are still the strongest party
here," AIADMK MLA Se Ma Velusamy told.

Busloads of people from across Tamil Nadu descended in Coimbatore to take part in the demonstration. In her long address, Ms Jayalalithaa listed out 54 points against the Centre and State government. According to intelligence sources the total assembled crowd inside the VOC stadium would be around two lakhs.

New trains to and from Coimbatore

Southern Railway as part of its new time table coming into effect from Thursday has announced the introduction of Chennai Central – Coimbatore AC Duronto Express and Coimbatore – Tirupati Intercity Express.

The date of introduction of these two new trains will be notified later.

Train Number 2243 Chennai – Coimbatore Duronto Express will leave Chennai Central at 6.50 a.m. and reach Coimbatore at 1.30 p.m. and in the return direction it will leave Coimbatore at 3.05 p.m. and reach Chennai at 9.50 p.m. There will be no commercial stoppages and the train will have one executive chair car, seven AC chair cars and two luggage-cum-brake vans. The date of introduction will be notified later.

Train Number 2758 tri-weekly Coimbatore – Tirupati Express will depart from Coimbatore at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday and reach Tirupati at 1.30 p.m. and from Tirupati train number 2757 will depart on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Mondays at 2.50 p.m. and reach Coimbatore at 10.40 p.m. The train will be operated via Salem, Katpadi and Pakala.

Train number 2653 will depart from Tiruchirapalli on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and reach Mangalore at 5.25 a.m. on Sunday with stoppages at Karur, Erode, Tirupur, Podanur, Palakkad, Shoranur, Kozhikode and Kannur. The train will have one AC two tier, two AC three tier, 11 sleeper class, two general second class and two luggage-cum-brake vans. In the return direction, train number 2654 will depart from Mangalore at 8.45 p.m. on Sunday and reach Tiruchirapalli at 8.15 a.m. on Monday. The date of introduction will be notified later.

Coimbatore – Pollachi passenger will be introduced after completion of gauge conversion.

Train number 604/604 will depart Coimbatore on all days except Sunday at 9.30 a.m. and reach Erode at 12 noon.