In Hyderabad

Since I landed in Hyderabad, every one kept claiming how soon the express way would be ready, but after seeing the delays in simple projects like panjagutta flyover etc., I was waiting for announcements in delays of expressways. As expected, this week Times of India reports that Huda has announced a delay in the construction of the PV Narsimha rao expressway by a year and the highway is expected to be completed by March 2009.

Of the 325 piers (pillars for the flyover), Huda has erected 20 so far. Huda also needs to acquire 2,500 sq yards of defence land in Mehdipatnam, 400 sq yards near the Musi river, 2,500 sq yards of private property in Aramghar apart from some other independent houses and gated communities coming in the way of the flyover. The acquisition process is still in the “advanced” stage.

Its raining SEZ’s in India. Not sure what all these SEZ’s will get for the taxpayer, but politicians and large companies are turning into landlords and at this pace, 50% of India will be really owned by the politicians and ambani’s.

The Centre on Tuesday accorded formal approval to six more special economic zones in the State. They include the two multi-product zones promoted by GMR at Shamshabad International airport and Sri City in Chittoor district. This will take the total number of SEZs in the State to 51.

Majority of the IT SEZs approved on Tuesday were in areas such as Warangal and Guntur, giving a fillip to the State’s government’s efforts to take IT to areas other than Hyderabad. The government, which has been getting requests for land only from smaller IT companies in these areas, is expecting to woo the bigger players with the SEZ status.

GHMC wants to fence its lands.. I dont see how fencing will stop the bada babus from encroaching on government land. It may just give them more of a reason to occupy a fenced property..

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation will begin fencing and erecting compound walls around its land to keep away land sharks.There are a large number of open spaces big and small in the 12 surrounding municipalities which were merged with Greater Hyderabad.Highly placed sources told this newspaper [DC] that the GHMC had records for over 700 open spaces running into nearly 20 lakh square metres.

Raidurg Auction is a flop as expected.. Government is late to realize that smart money is no longer participating in Hyderabadi auctions

The APIIC was struggling to get bidders for the 424acre IT district out of which 60 acres were put for auction in the first phase. Sources said top developers like DLF, Raheja, L&T and Ascendas made it clear that they would not invest hundreds of crores of rupees on land which is under litigation.