Good morning, in a worrisome discovery, Himalayan glaciers are melting at a furious rate.
Researchers found that not only are Himalayan glaciers turning into the liquid stuff faster than glaciers in other parts of the world, but also that in the past 40 years, they’ve shrunk 10x faster than they have during the last 700 years.
Each one of us have to go above and beyond to save our planet.
And there's the 😷↔1-metre↔😷 thing too.
2022 And Real Estate Tech
The pandemic has successfully mated two age-old incompatible entities - real estate and technology.
Proptech saw widespread adoption globally as the physical presence heavy sector faced it's biggest nightmare, immobile humans.
2022: The Seen And Unseen In Tech
Going by all the good stuff that happened to proptech through 2020-21, 2022 should be no different. Here's what the experts feel will be top real estate tech trends in the new year.
Housing - Tech adoption to enable remote sales - via virtual tours, augmented reality, digital workflows - shall remain the top trend as developers woo national and international clients who may not travel in the foreseeable future.
Also, PlanTech, a new kid on the block, will continue growing in 2022 in order to assist the planning system to efficiently service the increased demand for new builds to meet local housing targets.
💡 PlanTech Explained: PlanTech is a developing field of practice for emerging technologies and digital innovation for how we plan and design cities.
Office - Experts feel that 2022 will be the year that will ramp up tech, leading to centrally controlled systems that bring about health benefits (better air quality, healthy temperature control), cost efficiencies and ESG benefits.
Look out for proptech offerings that sense building data and then use it to adapt every possible system to create a better environment for workers, while saving money and protecting the environment.
Visualising - The year of the virtual interior decorator is here. 2022 will be the year when virtual staging gets smart. Visualising a space – its layout, furniture and finishes – is still largely a manual process, but the new year could change that for good.
Sustainability - Just like office landlords have started to adopt tech to measure and control energy performance in real time, retail landlords will face greater demands to do the same.
2022 will be a year when proptech will see a whole new market open up - retail showrooms, malls, shopping centres et al will increase their use of real time technology solutions.
RERA Gets Retrospective Powers
Many times, real estate developers fail to handover homes to buyers as per the agreement for sale, resulting in increased antacid consumption for the homebuyer and often, in lengthy legal suits too.
In a similar case, homebuyers filed a complaint before UP RERA, seeking refund of their investment along with interest.
RERA Who?
In their defence, the promoters of the project said that RERA was not applicable since the sale deed agreement was executed before the Act came into existence.
Consequently, they filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court after being dissatisfied by the decision of the UP RERA and the Allahabad High Court.
Recognise This
The apex court in its judgement held that, the legislative intent of RERA was not only to include projects that were yet to start after the act came into force but also ongoing projects to protect the rights of homebuyers, promoters and real estate agents.
Word From The Bar
🎙 The plain interpretation of the act does not fulfil the intent and object of the Act. The goal is to benefit the consumer and bring transparency and uniformity in the real estate sector – as observed by the three judge bench.
📌 Next time you see the ‘RERA not applicable to this project’ BS, point them to this ruling.
Soon: Warehousing Policy To Reduce Logistics Cost
Unknown to most, logistics costs constitute around 13% to 14% of India's GDP, making our exports uncompetitive when compared to the 8% to 10% logistics costs in developed nations.
On the bright side, the folks in the parliament have diagnosed this issue and are working on a way to fix the problem for good.
Not Just In Time
Although years late, the government is soon introducing a nationwide warehousing policy, which will create a framework for building exclusive warehousing zones through public-private partnerships (PPP).
The policy, which is in its final stages now, is being framed and will be implemented by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
Heavy Vehicles, Keep Out
These specialised logistics hubs, with industry standard storage facilities, will operate on the outskirts of major cities to avoid traffic congestion within them.
Private Partners, Come Right In
The warehousing zones will make use of the NHAI land bank along highways and expressways.
To be developed in the PPP model, land will be offered to private developers for constructing warehousing zones on a revenue-sharing basis or for a fixed fee, depending on specifics.
Bonus: Say Hello To Road Trains
Once these hubs are humming with activity, the carrying capacity of trucks could also be increased, as large goods vehicles will no longer need to enter cities.
🔮 This also means that while you're out driving to your favourite dhaba, you'll be greeted by sights of multi-axle road trains with double cabs, and engines that could make a locomotive blush.
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Before we sign off for the day, here's a special report - Civil war has pushed millions of Ethiopians to the brink. History shows how deep the country’s divides run.
We have just one world, but in reality, we live in so many different ones.
Have a good day. 💚
☕ The Crew@Ginger Chai