Mumbai In a move that could give a further fillip to the economic reforms kickstarted by the Centre last week, the government has now told commercial banks to fund partially completed residential projects, as well as projects in small towns on a priority basis.

At a meeting between the secretary for financial services, DK Mittal, Indian Bankers Association (IBA) and developers’ apex body Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (Credai) in Mumbai, Mittal asked commercial banks to focus on funding under construction projects that are delayed due to want of funds, said Credai president Lalit Kumar Jain.

Vehicular density, construction activity, use of diesel generator sets and loudspeakers blamed

Bangalore, long considered the garden city, now has a dubious distinction. It has been ranked the country’s seventh noisiest city and the tag is bound to worry the citizens, long concerned about rising levels of air pollution and ever-increasing number of vehicles. At 65 decibels, the City’s noise level has exceeded permissible levels in residential and commercial zones.

New Delhi Government is targeting awarding road construction projects of 4,000 km length in the current fiscal through the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode.

Of this, bids for road projects of 2,650 km length has been invited by ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH). The remaining will be done by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), MoRTH secretary A K Upadhyay said here on Thursday.

The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) will provide round-the-clock treated water to builders from its sewage treatment plants (STPs), said Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner P. C. Meena on Thursday at a meeting to sensitise the developers on the recent Punjab & Haryana High Court barring use of underground water for construction activities.

He said the builders can procure the treated and recycled water from the government or private sources for construction purposes but need to disclose the source to the authorities. He clarified that construction is not banned in Gurgaon, but use of groundwater is not allowed.

Hundreds of farmers and their families Byatarayanapura MLA Krishna Byre Gowda, on the outskirts of the city, staged a protest on Wednesday against State government’s decision to lease out part of 32 acres of land acquired for construction of Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) to a private developer.

Assembling at the acquired land, off Bellary Road, under the leadership of Byatarayanapura MLA Krishna Byre Gowda, the farmers raised slogans against the government for its “controversial” decision.

All construction activity has been stalled in Gurgaon till the builders make arrangements to use recycled water from the Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) of Dhanwapur or Behrampur.

While DLF and Omaxe have withdrawn from affordable housing after doing some initial projects, Usha Martin group's realty arm Usha Breco Realty is yet to launch three of the four projects it planned

Lucknow Land acquisition hurdles have claimed yet another road project in Uttar Pradesh. The R1100-crore Agra Inner Ring Road project, which was given to Jaypee Infratech three years ago, has been shelved by the Akhilesh Yadav government because the land-for-development model for the plan was not working out.

In a meeting chaired by the UP CM on Wednesday, it was decided in principle that the concessionaire agreement between the Agra Development Authority (ADA) — the nodal agency of the housing department — and Jaypee would be cancelled and a fresh process would be initiated for the construction of the 30-km-long road on competitive bidding.

New Delhi In a major reprieve for developers in Maharashtra, a division bench of the Supreme Court passed an interim order on Tuesday allowing them to pay value added tax (VAT) till October 31, adding the amount would be refunded if the developers win the case.

The Supreme Court passed the interim order while hearing a special leave petition filed by the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry and Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (MCHI-Credai) and Credai-Pune against the levying of 5% VAT by the Maharashtra sales tax department.

With many highway projects finding it difficult to reach financial closure, the government is seeking a review of guidelines for lending to such projects.