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GREATER NOIDA: Two ambitious big-ticket projects of Greater Noida hanging fire for almost several years are likely to see the light of day soon. This was said by Deepak Agarwal, CEO, Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) on Monday after a joint board meeting of the three development authorities of Gautam Budh Nagar.

According to GNIDA officials, the Board on Monday has approved in-principle draft Request For Proposal for both projects. “Soon we will initiate the RFP and invite companies to come forward with their proposals,” Agarwal said. “This is a step forward for the two projects, which are on the UP chief minister’s list of priorities,” he said.

Officials further said that while the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Heliport has already been approved, along with a No Objection Certificate from the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation department. The Rs 50 crore heliport will be constructed across a 22-acre open area falling in Safipur village, which is located along the Noida-Greater Noida expressway near the Gautam Budh University. “An additional 15 acre of land has also been reserved for future expansion of the aviation project,” said Agarwal. “After the RFP, we will select a consultant for the project to be developed on PPP model. This process should be completed soon, after which work on the project will commence,” he added. The project will be in place two years after construction starts.

Agarwal further detailed the ambitious Night Safari project saying the business plan for the proposed project was also in place. The project is to be developed on PPP model. As per the business plan, the developer will be allowed commercial activity in the reserved recreational green area. This has been done so that the project becomes viable and any losses meted out. This activity could include putting up a resort, club, bar, etc. The Rs 750 crore project will be developed across 337 acres. The core area will be built across 200 acres, while the rest of the area will be used for business activities. Once tenders are finalized and construction commences, the project to be developed on land adjoining Gautam Budh University campus on Yamuna Expressway is expected to be delivered to public by 2017.

NOIDA: Delhi Metro Rail Corporation MD Mangu Singh said on Sunday the Noida-Greater Noida Metro project is on course for completion within its deadline and the track is expected to be ready for trials by July 2017.

He also said that civil engineering work onm the track will be over by March 2017.

Singh last week inspected the corridor, work on which started in May, and expressed satisfaction with the pace of work. The Greater Noida Metro link is expected to roll out by December 2017.

Singh’s inspection of the Metro work followed one by Noida Authority chairman Rama Raman earlier this month. Raman had on October 10 kickstarted work on laying of the track’s first pillar at Delta-1 in Greater Noida.

According to the DMRC officials, till now a total of 15 piling rigs out of 18 have been mobilized and 700 piles, the foundation for the pillars, out of 5,000 have been made. Shifting of utilities along the corridor is also under progress. “Trees falling along the alignment of the track have been shifted to other locations Around 400-500 trees have been shifted and around 1,100 trees have been saved by shifting of piers of the track,” said Raman. “Meanwhile, saplings are being planted at various locations by DMRC officials and there is a plan to plant around 30, 000 trees,” he added. Singh also planted trees at the two casting yards during his inspection.

The 30km Noida-Greater Noida corridor will have 21 elevated stations and a depot in Greater Noida, of which 15 stations fall in Noida and 6 including the depot station fall in Greater Noida. All the stations will be equipped with platform screen doors, solar panels and rainwater harvesting facilities.

The corridor has two casting yards, one near Sector 149 Metro station and the other at depot station in Greater Noida. Two casting yards were planned owing to the length of the line and shortage of time to complete the project. According to DMRC officials, to facilitate work on the corridor at a faster pace, pre-cast pier caps and pre cast U-girders of 27

metres length will be used. “These will be cast at both the casting yards simultaneously. The casting of U – girders has already begun and out of a total 1,000 U-girders, 10 U-girders have already been casted this month,” said an official.

The corridor will cross the Dedicated Railway Freight Corridor and the Yamuna-Agra flyover. It will have its highest point near Knowledge Park II station. This station will also be connected to the Greater Noida Expo Centre and Special Economic Zone through walkalators. Noida-Greater Noida corridor will be linked with the upcoming Noida City Centre to Sector 62 Metro corridor.

READ ALSO: Gurgaon best bet for office, Noida loses out

Right on top, beating Gurgaon, is Noida. And it is the best city to live in NCR because its civic infrastructure is more evolved and cost of living moderate.

According to the ‘Residential Preference Survey 2015’ by real estate services and consultancy giant Colliers International, India, living in Noida is the best bet for people who like to lead a hassle-free and laidback life with enough amenities, even though many residents may have to travel long distances to Delhi or Gurgaon for the sake of their jobs.

In the study, Gurgaon has predictably emerged as NCR’s office district. It is the swishest NCR city and creates most employment, but also has the most expensive real estate.

READ ALSO: State will develop Gurgaon into smartest city, Khattar says

The research by Colliers on the basis of a Pestle study of comparative indices— based on political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal parameters—includes five NCR cities of Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad. Colliers compiled its research with the help of field experts, as well as secondary sources like NUMBEO, Wikipedia, Google and other government databases.

“Pestle is a strategic tool which gauges macro environmental factors. Accordingly, we ranked cities on parameters such as political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal, which impact a person’s decision making on which city to live in. The research shows some interesting pointers,” Surabhi Arora, associate director (research) at Colliers International, India, told TOI.

It appears from the study that when people choose a city to live in or invest in property, political stability is one of the most important deciding factors. “To determine political stability, we have taken qualitative indices of crime in the cities over the past six months. It revealed Faridabad as the most stable across a combination of factors, with Ghaziabad the least stable. Gurgaon, Noida and Greater Noida are all at par,” Arora said. However, Ghaziabad is the most crime-prone with 79.30 points according to the survey. Noida and Greater Noida are both at 57.79 points.

In economic indices, Gurgaon, at 160.27 points, is the most expensive NCR city to live in, while Noida stands at 93.94 points. “This shows that for the same basket of goods — a qualitative combination of rent, grocery, restaurants, etc — you spend a low of Rs 93.94 in Noida, but a high of Rs 160.27 in Gurgaon,” Arora said.

In social indices, Gurgaon scored the highest in healthcare facilities at 78.17 points, based on secondary sources. “Although professionals choose to live in Gurgaon because most corporate offices are located there, in the long term, and in terms of lifestyle quality, Noida is so far the best bet in NCR,” Arora said.

So, you can safely live in Noida and work in Gurgaon, and get the best of both worlds

The Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (TEEMA) on Thursday inked an MoU with the Uttar Pradesh Development Systems Corporation Ltd (UPDESCO), under which it will invest $200 million to develop a 210-acre greenfield electronic manufacturing cluster in Greater Noida.

With land formalities to be completed within the next month and ground work to begin in six months, manufacturing of electronic products could start within the next two years.

“We have made a smart decision in Greater Noida. We will start construction without delay. Our products would include smartphones, semi-conductors, tablets, etc. We believe the Indian talent and manpower will prove to be a strong ingredient for the electronic manufacturing cluster (EMC),” said Francis Tsai, chairman, TEEMA’s India Committee.

“UP has potential for being an electronics manufacturing hub. Our IT policies provide a congenial environment for investors,” said Yasar Shah, minister of state for energy, UP, who presided over the event that was also attended by state chief secretary Alok Ranjan, R K Tiwari, the principal secretary of IT & electronics, and Rama Raman, the chairperson of Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna authorities.

Apart from Tsai, the 22-member delegation of TEEMA included D J Lee, the executive director of Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre in India and Tim Lin, the managing director of CINDA.

The delegation represented Taiwanese firms such as Mobiletron Electronics Co Ltd, CTCI Corp, CINDA Engineering & Construction Pvt Ltd, Cal-Comp Electronics Communications Company Ltd and Waffer Technology Corp.

According to officials, the EMC will be set up across two plots of land, measuring about 100 acres each. About 10 acres will be reserved for facilities. The Centre had in principle approved the setting up of the EMC on February 04, 2015. A final approval, along with an official application and detailed project report, was handed over on August 3. That followed a government order of November 13, 2014, which approved the establishment of an EMC by UPDESCO as chief promoter of the project through Greater Noida Authority.

“The land has been allotted in Ecotech 6 and 7 in Greater Noida. While the Greater Noida Authority has allotted the land, UPDESCO will develop the land and then hand it over to TEEMA within six months. A special purpose vehicle (SPV) will be created of which Taiwan EMC will be members,” Raman said.

The total land cost for the project is estimated at Rs 277 crore. Some 5% of this cost, which is Rs 13.86 crore, has been collected by the Greater Noida Authority. “In the next phase of development, the EMC is likely to be expanded to about 800-1000 acres. We have already identified land for this,” Raman said.

The chief secretary said, “It will be a win-win situation. The EMC will usher an era of electronic industry in UP. It will bring in huge investments and also create employment for thousands.”

Source – Times of India

GREATER NOIDA: After a Taiwanese consortium and a Dutch telecom company, Chinese commercial and real estate giant Dalian Wanda Group has now expressed interest in investing in Greater Noida, by venturing into lifestyle and commercial real estate.

The company has been exploring opportunities to invest in India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Beijing in May. Its chairman Wang Jianlin met Modi in Delhi earlier this month before visiting Gurgaon to discuss investments that included a mega township. Dalian Wanda is the biggest private property developer in China, apart from being the world’s largest cinema chain operator, with assets worth $86 billion.

On Monday, representatives of the Chinese company met Santosh Yadav, CEO of Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), and inquired if 500 acres of contiguous land along the expressway could be available. The group, a conglomerate of companies, operates in four major areas — commercial property, luxury hotels, culture and tourism, and department stores.

The Chinese delegation that met Yadav comprised Mathew Abbot, general manager in the acquisitions department for international real estate and senior manager Dillon Wang. Yadav said the officials were on their first visit to Greater Noida and were on a fact-finding tour to explore investment opportunities in Uttar Pradesh.

Yadav informed the delegation about various infrastructure development projects coming up in the area and those open for bidding at present. The visiting delegation has promised to return with specific investment and a consolidated proposal for setting up a mixed land-use township, said Yadav.

An Authority official said that the area adjacent to the Yamuna expressway is attracting interest for large-scale projects with land availability in Noida becoming limited and that it could become a hub for integrated townships and other mixed-land use projects.

Earlier this month, a Taiwanese consortium and a Dutch telecommunications company had shown interest in investing in Greater Noida. The Dutch internet service and telephony provider is scouting for 200 acres of land to set up an IT manufacturing unit in the city’s electronic manufacturing cluster.

The Taiwanese consortium, Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (TEEMA) had met UP chief secretary Alok Ranjan in Lucknow and expressed interest to invest $200 million in the electronic manufacturing cluster.

Metro may go to Jewar, plan to extend Greater Noida Line

GREATER NOIDA: In order to provide connectivity to the rapidly urbanizing area, the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) is working on a feasibility plan to put the Metro on track up to Jewar.

The proposed 48- to 50-km Metro track is estimated to come at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore and will be aligned at the road level along the Yamuna Expressway.

According to officials, a proposal to prepare a techno economic feasibility report (TEFR) for the proposed project, which will run between Pari Chowk in Greater Noida and Jewar, will be sent to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) soon.

“Currently, we are working out the feasibility of the project,” said Santosh Yadav, CEO, YEIDA. “We will also put together the terms of reference to prepare the TEFR, and send it to the DMRC,” Yadav told TOI.

Once the TEFR is in place, the DMRC will also prepare the detailed project report (DPR) for the proposed Metro route, Yadav further said. “Once we have both in place within the next few months, we will take the project ahead,” he said. The proposed line is expected to not only provide a fast link between the two townships of Greater Noida and YEIDA but also bring these places closer to the national capital by boosting connectivity.

According to officials, the proposed Metro route will come at an estimated cost of about Rs 2,000 crore. The cost for putting in place an elevated Metro track is estimated at about Rs 200 crore/km. By the same formula, the YEIDA Metro should cost more than Rs 9,000 crore. However, YEIDA is studying the feasibility and financial viability of running the Metro at the road level along the expressway. This will bring down the cost to almost Rs 40-50 crore/km. The Authority CEO said, “The population in Greater Noida and YEIDA is set to increase considerably. Besides, several new housing schemes are in the pipeline. Considering that thousands of more people will inhabit the area, the Metro link will prove very useful. It will also serve the several proposed residential, industrial and IT units along the expressway”.

In February last year, a 20.6-km Metro rail route between Greater Noida and YEIDA was proposed. The proposed track was expected to run along the Yamuna Expressway between Pari Chowk in Greater Noida and Sector 22 in the YEIDA area.