Town Planning – Scandinavia
Yechte Consulting finalises modelisation for a concept town planning proposal in Scandinavia.
India infrastructure boom to boost world growth: Advisor
NEW DELHI: India can showcase its massive infrastructure spending and a wider current account deficit at the next G20 summit as its contribution to reviving global economic demand, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the deputy head of the Planning Commission said on Thursday.
Ahluwalia said India's current account deficit could reach 3 per cent in the fiscal year ending March 2011 but the higher figure could be financed by increased capital flows.
Asia's third-largest economy is looking overseas to import equipment to help build infrastructure projects worth a planned $1.5 trillion in the ten years to 2017.
Imports will likely increase in the coming years especially for higher end projects such as airports and power plants, Ahluwalia said.
"It is important for each country to say what it is going to do to stimulate demand," Ahluwalia told reporters, when asked what India could bring to the table at the November summit of the Group of 20 leading countries in Seoul.
"As far as India is concerned, we are doing exactly what is necessary to stimulate global domand because our internal strategy is based on accelerating domestic investment in infrastructure," he added.
India is planning to spend $1.5 trillion on infrastructure in the ten years to 2017 to overhaul its creaking road, railway and power sectors, long seen as a drag on growth in Asia's third-largest economy.
India's August trade deficit widened to a 23-month high, putting pressure on the current account deficit and prompting a top Indian trade official to raise his forecast for the full year trade deficit figure.
"Investment in infrastructure is more import intensive. So it is our expectation that if we follow that approach, even though exports will be a little depressed compared to what they would have been in a booming situation, the current account deficit may widen," Ahluwalia said.
"We are willing to live with that. We think we'll be able to finance it, so it's not actually a big problem, but the key to financing it is that there should be stability and an element of certainty in the global financial system, especially as far as flows to emerging market countries are concerned."
Source: Economic Times
Treasury unimpressed by opportunity to stimulate private rented sector
September started so well for those with high hopes for a new institutionally-backed private rented housing sector, with the Homes and Communities Agency announcing its first private rental initiative agreement with the Berkeley Group.
The landmark deal commits Berkeley to establish a Private Rental Fund to purchase around 550 of its own new homes over the next two years, with the HCA providing equity funding from its Kickstart programme to retain a 20% stake in the portfolio that would have to be available for long-term private rental. The public-private venture is a first for both sides and was immediately hailed by the British Property Federation as the deal it has been waiting for to demonstrate the viability of large-scale development for private rental.
The HCA's investment is part of a £45.6m package of funding that is allowing Berkeley to bring forward development on ten of its existing sites in London, the South East and South West. The deal is expected to generate an additional 922 homes for sale and 299 new affordable homes.
However, by the end of last week the BPF's celebrations were cut short by a statement from the Treasury that appeared to rule out future financial support for initiatives designed to increase the delivery of homes to rent, claiming that any institutional investment would always be no more than a 'niche' in the sector. The Treasury's comments were issued as its response to the consultation on promoting the private rented sector launched by the last government.
Through the Property Industry Alliance, mortgage lenders had joined the RICS, BPF and others to draw up a list of suggestions for encouraging investment, including suitably tax-efficient investment vehicles and the removal of barriers to investment such as current stamp duty land tax bulk purchase rules.
For its part the HCA had claimed that its Private Rental Sector Initiative could generate £1 billion of development funding in its first year and so help to establish a new housing investment sector in its own right. Names linked to the initiative included Legal & General and Aviva and scores more pension funds and insurers had expressed interest.
With the government's spending review just weeks away and future HCA funding expected to be under pressure, the odds appear to be lengthening for any significant public sector pump priming of pioneering housing investment initiatives.
Source: RIBA
Cable car proposals may generate construction jobs in London
Plans to create an urban cable car across the Thames have moved a step further ahead with the news that an architect has been selected to draw up plans for the scheme, which could provide new construction jobs if it goes ahead.
According to the Architects Journal, London-based practice Wilkinson Eyre has been chosen for the project to link the Royal Docks in east London with the Greenwich Peninsula.
A public consultation has been carried out by Transport for London on the proposed scheme, which would see the UK's first urban facility of this kind constructed and has won the support of London mayor Boris Johnson.
The news source reports that plans are due to be submitted by Wilkinson Eyre to the London Borough of Newham for permission in September.
Further construction work may result from a proposed sustainable building in the Royal Victoria Docks which has been designed by Wilkinson Eyre and partners and is scheduled to open in early 2012.
Gabon inks 4.5 billion dollars deals with India, Singapore
LIBREVILLE — Gabon signed Saturday 4.5 billion dollars (3.5 billion euros) in contracts with Indian and Singaporean companies for infrastructure projects, the president's office said in a statement.
"On the eve of the festivities celebrating the 50th anniversary of Gabon's independence, key major contracts for the Emergent Gabon programme worth 4.5 billion dollars were signed in the presence of the Head of State, Ali Bongo Ondimba," his office said in a statement.
The projects include the construction of 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) of roads, the construction of a special economic zone for the processing of wood, creating palm plantations and building 5,000 homes.
The investments are expected to generate 50,000 jobs.
The Gabonese presidency did not provide further details on the contracts.
World’s largest virtual computer-generated skyscraper in Brazil
Brazilian practice Königsberger Vannucchi Architects has entered the record books with the world’s biggest augmented reality marker for its latest skyscraper.
The Fibrasa Connection project allows customers and potential buyers for the office development, in Vitória, the capital of the southern Brazilian state Espírito Santo, to see the building in situ before construction work has even begun.
In an elaborate set-up, notebook computer displays have been fitted to a helicopter which flies over the site with an augmented reality reader attached. The giant square black and white marker on the ground then triggers a display of a full size 3D model of the 32,000 sq m development on the screens.
There is also a larger screen in the development’s sales room.
Similar augmented reality projects have been used across London on a smaller scale, allowing owners of smart phones such as the iPhone, to hold their device up to a black and white square which triggers a real-time view of the surrounding environment with added objects, which have included adverts, buildings and people.
The Fibrasa Connection project was awarded record-breaking status by Guinness World Records at the end of last month.
China to build ginormous buses that cars can drive under
Seriously, this is the future that China's envisioning: huge friggin' buses engulfing smaller cars on the road. Despite the silly picture and the eccentric "3D Express Coach" branding, this cunning project by Shenzhen Huashi Future Car-Parking Equipment actually makes sense. The idea is to make use of the space between regular-size cars and bridges, thus saving construction costs as well as minimizing congestion impact by allowing cars to drive underneath these jumbo buses. Fancy hitching a ride? You better start planning your move to Beijing's Mentougou district, which is where Huashi will commence building its first 186km of track at year's end. For now, enjoy the Chinese demo video after the break (translation text at source link).
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