Stitch: It seems CyberJaya will be completed ahead of schedule.Allow me to thorw in some other news from around the world as well,hope you don't mind.
Source: Economic Times-India.
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DEALS AND DEEDS
Malay silicon valley to be ready by Christmas
Kuala Lumpur: A futuristic Malaysian city planned along the lines of the Silicon Valley will be ready by Christmas, one year ahead of schedule, despite the Asian economic crisis, officials said on Monday. ''On the whole I am very satisfied,'' Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told reporters after chairing a meeting to review the progress to build the city, Cyberjaya. Nestled in a jungle of palm oil plantations outside Kuala Lumpur, the $1 billion city envisages offices of high-tech companies, homes, a hotel, shopping and recreational centers. Cyberjaya is part of a larger project called the multimedia super corridor, a 150-square-kilometer (50-square-mile) area bound by a fiber-optics network, providing high-speed computer links between Cyberjaya, a new international airport and a new administrative capital.
Bangalore to get tallest IT park
Bangalore (India): If the fantasy of a bunch of NRIs comes true, Bangalore could well have the tallest software technology park in the world and the tallest office building in India. The project has made some headway with the high power committee of the Karnataka government giving its consent for the Rs 480 crore project. To be called the Space City, the 360 metres tall, 100-storey building is planned to provide 1.6 million sq ft of office space on a 60-acre plot of land on Hosur Road. The project has obtained approval from the Airport Authority of India for the height of the building since it will be located 15.2 km away from the Bangalore airport. Inder R. Jaggi, the main promoter of the project told The Economic Times that the complex would provide working space for 20,000 software professionals. Civil construction is expected to commence in June this year and will be completed in three years, Jaggi said
Housing perks up, but Japs short on space
Tokyo: Mizuho Nagayama, owner of a small computer software company, is in the market for a bargain. Her quarry: a house and plot of Tokyo land for around a half-million dollars. It might sound like a bundle to outsiders, but for Nagayama and other Japanese chasing a slice of suburbia and the dream of owning a home, the market is looking better all the time. Things are getting better. Interest rates are at record lows ranging from three per cent for loans from a government-subsidized housing corporation to 4.8 per cent offered by a private construction-banking company. Land prices have tumbled 16 per cent in urban areas, and 55 per cent in Japan's six biggest cities, since a speculative bubble burst in the early 1990s.
UK housing gets healthy diagnosis
London: Alliance & Leicester Plc, which converted from a building society into a bank last year, expects Britain's housing market to remain robust this year. Despite five interest rate rises since May and measures in the July budget to cut tax relief on mortgage payments and double stamp duty on expensive properties, A&L said there had been no significant loss of confidence since Labour snatched power. Over two-thirds of homebuyers feel no different since Labour's May 1 election win, it said, and about 10 percent are likely to move this year. ''Our survey shows that although the events of the last six months including five rate rises and higher prices have dented people's enthusiasm slightly, demand for property has remained fairly constant,'' said Stephen Jones, director of sales at A&L.
Hudco sanctions Rs 397.46 crore loan
Chandigarh (india): The Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco) has sanctioned a loan of Rs 397.46 crore to the Amritsar Improvement Trust for its land acquisition scheme. The loan will be used by the trust for development work of 'New Amritsar' in Sultanwind and Wallah villages, a Hudco release said. The trust proposes to develop the 262.43 acres for residential use as well as commercial, educational and other public activities, it added. Hudco had earlier sanctioned 514 projects worth Rs 739.43 crore to various housing and development authorities of the state.
Real Madrid now wants a mega stadium
Madrid: Perennial Spanish soccer power Real Madrid is seeking government permission to replace its Santiago Bernabeu Stadium with a new 120,000-seat structure on the city's outskirts. The club proposes tearing down the centrally located Santiago Bernabeu, rezone the land and build 2,500 apartments to help underwrite the cost for the new stadium. Club officials said yesterday the rezoning needs government approval. The club estimates the new stadium will cost $166 million, on par with Barcelona's 115,000-capacity Camp Nou facility.
Kennedy clan selling Chicago realty
Chicago: The Kennedy political dynasty, which has long-standing ties to Chicago, is negotiating to sell its prime local properties, including the Merchandise Mart, the world's largest commercial building. Leading contenders for acquiring the coveted properties valued at around $400 million are two local real-estate propertiers Vornado Realty Trust and Equity Office Properties trust. ''We're in the process of making contact with the Kennedy family to determine the status of the situation,'' said Richard Curto, president of Prime Group Realty Trust. ''This a great landmark property with a significant Chicago history ... I expect the sale price to be the largest in the city's history,'' he said. The 378,000-square metre Merchandise Mart, which was bought by Joseph Kennedy, the family patriarch, for $12.5 million in 1945.
Dresden to build new synagogue
Berlin:The city of Dresden lost its synagogue on November 9, 1938: Kristallnacht, or the night of broken glass, when Nazis destroyed Jewish property and dragged jews off to concentration camps. Now the former East German city is getting a new synagogue, one smaller in scale to suit its diminished Jewish community but on the same spot where the old one burned to the ground. Construction of the synagogue the first new one in the former East Germany since reunification in 1990 is to begin on November 9, the 60th anniversary of Kristallnacht. Its doors are scheduled to open exactly two years later. So far, Dresden's Jewish community has raised $9.5 million, the synagogue is expected to cost. On thursday, the project got a boost: a $43,000 donation from the Roman Catholic diocese and collections taken at protestant and catholic churches. While synagogues have been restored or opened in existing buildings, Dresden's will be the first completely new construction.
US housing starts to ease up
Washington: Construction starts on new homes and apartments slowed in December, but were robust for the full 1997 year as cheaper interest rates and abundant jobs bolstered housing. December starts were down 0.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.52 million - slightly below Wall Street economists' expectations for a 1.54-million-unit rate as building slowed at year-end in three of four major regions. For the full year 1997, builders broke ground on 1.476 million new homes. That was down a razor-thin 0.1 percent from 1996's 1.477-million-unit rate when homes were going up at the fastest clip since 1.488 million a year in 1988. As a result, 1997 was the second strongest building year.
HK to sell valuable land by tender
Hong Kong: The Hong Kong government said on Thursday it would sell by tender larger and more valuable property sites originally slated for auctions. But territorial authorities did not expect to make many changes in the land sale schedule.''Tender is the best way to dispose of land because it allows developers more time to consider their bid, while in an auction they have to make instantaneous decisions based on bids,'' said Robert Pope, the Director of Lands. ''By tender they can take a more subjective view.'' Pope said tendering would help maintain stable property prices amid current sentiment in the property market. Real estate analysts are bearish, expecting property prices to fall another 10 percent or more this year after a slump of some 20 to 40 percent since mid-October 1997. |
