Hyderabad | Relaxed rules can spur growth

Apart from bringing in more transparency and checking corruption, will the proposed legislation on the lines of TS-iPASS act as catalyst in giving momentum to the dormant real estate sector in Hyderabad?

Typically in Hyderabad and elsewhere in Telangana State, a developer spends anywhere between eight months and a year to get building permission for a non-multi-storeyed (under five floors) structure. For permission to take up construction of multi-storeyed structures (more than five floors), which includes getting no objection certificates from a host of departments and building permission from GHMC, it takes more than a year.

Can the legislation mooted by the State government exclusively for real estate sector provide building permissions for builders within a span of two weeks? Apart from the promise of introducing more transparency and checking corruption in the sector, will the proposed legislation act as a tool that will be a catalyst to give momentum to the dormant sector in Hyderabad?

The recent decision of the Chief Minister to have legislation on the lines of Telangana State Industrial Project Approval and Self Certification System (TS-iPASS), has managed to raise hopes for the sector. The sector experts point out that such a legislation for real estate would encourage investment, transparency and moreover, the benefits of lower time in acquiring permissions for real estate projects would ultimately be passed on to the consumer. “In our talks, we have urged the municipal authorities and even the Chief Minister that there was a need to come out with solutions by thinking out of the box. Drastically reducing time to get permissions by introducing innovative measures like making the whole process online is important. It’s possible to reduce time for permission to only two weeks,” feels former president of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association (CREDAI) C. Sekhar Reddy.

More ....  The Hindu 

Hyderabad City to Host 5-Day Sky Fest From December 23

HYDERABAD: The City of Pearls is all set to host its largest-ever five-day festivity, Sky Fest, in December. It will be held at the Gachibowli Stadium from December 23 to 27.

To be hosted by Sparsh Hospice, a charitable initiative of Rotary Club, it will be a one-stop destination for adventure, entertainment, food and will have some major attractions like hot-air balloon rides, concerts, midnight open-air movies and acrobatic shows.

Speaking at the curtain raiser of ‘ACT Fibernet Sky Fest 2015’, IT and panchayat raj minister KT Rama Rao here on Wednesday said, “For any city to become a global city, social capital plays a major role. If the investors, migrants and natives do not have a social life, then that city cannot be called a true metropolitan city. That is the reason why we started promoting Hyderabad as a social capital through the ‘Happening Hyderabad’ programme and hosted many concerts and international conventions in the past one year. The upcoming Sky Fest will be a way forward and will definitely be a highlight among all our programmes.”

Rao added, “The festival is being organised with an aim to connect all sections of  people under one roof to create vibrant communities leading to a better life.

Also, the motive is appreciable as the organisers are trying to raise funds to expand their hospitality scope by adding new facilities,” Rao added.

He advised the organisers to target school students to make the programme successful. “As the programme will be hosted during the Christmas holidays, it will be better if  educational institutions are also involved in the event. As all the programmes will be held at one venue, there are high chances of children turning out in large numbers,” the minister said.

“Besides hot-air balloon rides, the other attractions of the festival will include concerts, midnight open-air movies, acrobatic shows, five days of carnival, shopping, food and much more fun and frolic  to bond people,” Dr M Subrahmanyam, trustee, Sparsh Hospice, said.

The movies to be screened are Dilwale, Baji Rao Mastani, Bahubali (Hindi), Sreemanthudu and Maya Bazar (Colour). Noted singers  Shanker Mahadevan, Sonu Nigam and Devi Sri Prasad will perform at the event.

Sparsh Hospice is a 15-bedded hospital in  a rented building at Banjara Hills in the city. The fundraising event is being organised to generate funds required to build its own premises and expand the capacity from 15 to 50 beds.

Source : Indian Express 

Bio-Medical Research to come up in Hyderabad

Hyderabad / New Delhi

The central government on Wednesday gave its go-ahead to set up a National Resource Facility for Bio-medical Research at Genome Valley in Hyderabad.

The institution, whose estimated cost is Rs.338.58 crore, will be the first of its kind for quality laboratory animals for basic and applied biomedical research in the country, an official statement said.

The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The resource centre, to be set up by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), is expected to be functional by 2018-19, it said.

"It will be developed as a world-class facility for breeding and housing of animals such as primates, canines and other specialised models such as transgenic and knockout rodents required for testing of various R&D products," the statement added.

The facility will create, develop and provide access to a range of laboratory animals and related technological resources for advancement of biomedical research in the country, mainly to facilitate research in medical colleges, research and academic institutions, universities and Biotech/Bio-pharma companies, it said.

It will also provide training facilities for personnel in the specialised areas in the field of biomedical research.

The state government has allotted 102.69 acres of land at Genome Valley, Hyderabad, free of cost, to the ICMR for Establishment of National Animal Resource Facility (NARF) for Biomedical Research.

Source : NDTV