366 Dwelling units are being planned in the 50 acres of land acquired at Bangalore Yelahanka Part 'A as under: -The project is being planned in a Single Phase as under: -

Environment Impact Assessment Report has been submitted to Ministry of Environment and Forests. A Presentation has been held. Observations raised by the Environment Assessment Committee have been clarified. Formal approval is awaited.

Planning of Dwelling Units in 11 acres of plot is being undertaken.

Construction work for nearly 1200 balance Dwelling Units is expected to start in mid 2007. With the restriction on height of buildings being removed by Greater Noida Authority, it is proposed to increase the height of various towers. This will increase not only the total number of Dwelling Units but also the areas of open greens

88 Dwelling Units (Economy) have been planned in this phase. Construction work is likely to commence by mid 2007.

The Nainital Lake Development Authority has approved the plans for the scheme. Preparation of working drawings is in progress. Scheme is open for allotment of second dwelling unit also. 138 applications have been received against planned construction of 81 dwelling units.

HUDA has allotted 12.65 acres of land. 483 DUs are being constructed. Planning has been completed. Tender action is in hand. Booking letters have already been sent to the allottees

Silver Sand Island, Kochi: Duplex Single Dwelling units are being planned. The response to the project has been very good. Selection of architect has been done. Planning process is in hand.

AWHO has been entrusted with the construction of Army College of Nursing at Jalandhar. The planning for the same is in progress. The construction is planned to commence by early 2007.

36 Economy Apartments have been planned. Response to the project has been good. Construction work has commenced in Aug 2006

The project is being planned in a Single Phase as under: -

Tender action is in hand

Construction of 844 Dwelling Units is progressing satisfactorily. Progress is nearly 80%. Work for external development is in progress. Sample Dwelling Units are ready and are being visited by allottees.

. Work on pile foundations for 784 Luxury and Super Deluxe Dwelling Units is under progress.

Construction work is progressing satisfactorily as per schedule with the present progress being approx 40%.

As per directions of COAS, low cost housing schemes are to be planned for serving JCOs/OR in all popular stations. The pilot project has been undertaken at Jaipur where land was already available with AWHO. 84 Dwelling Units are under construction under Jai Jawan Awas Yojna-1. The progress of work is satisfactory and as per schedule. All planned Jai Jawan Apartments have already been booked. A long waiting list exists for allotment against cancellation/surrender.

The second project under the scheme, Jai Jawan Awas Yojna-2 has also been planned in Jaipur. All 84 planned Dwelling Units have been booked. Construction work has already commenced in Dec 2006

20 Economy Apartments have been planned in this phase. The construction work is in progress. The progress of work is approx 69%.

A total of 222 dwelling units are being constructed. Construction work is going on. Likely date of completion of the project is Aug 2007.

Work has commenced to construct 18 Duplex Single Units and 48 Special Economy Apartments. Basement parking is also being provided below the Special Economy Apartment blocks

270 Dwelling Units are being constructed in this phase (DA 60, EA 180 and UA 30). The progress of the work is approx 62%

Ludhiana (Dugri Road): Site is located near Sidwan Canal approx 4 Kms from Bus Stand. Construction of 170 Dwelling Units comprising of Deluxe A, Deluxe B and Economy Apartments has commenced.

1010 Dwelling Units and Central Facilities are under construction. The progress of the work is behind schedule and efforts are on to complete the work at the earliest.

195 Jai Jawan Apartments have been planned. The Scheme has been over subscribed. Annual Registration scheme on first come first serve basis is still open. All new applicants are being kept in the waiting list for allotment against cancellation/surrender. Tender action for the project is in hand.

556 Dwelling Units along with Central Facilities are under construction. The expected date of completion is May 2007.

270 Dwelling Units are being constructed in this phase (DA 60, EA 180 and UA 30). The progress of the work is approx 62%.

Belgaum.

All the 22 Single Unit Houses and four shops have been sold in the colony. Annual registration is open for dwelling units only against cancellation.

56 Single Units, 12 Economy Apartments and 6 Thrifty Apartments have been constructed in Phase-I. All Dwelling Units except one have been handed over. Most of the units have been occupied and the campus is coming up nicely.

3.3 acres of land have been allotted to AWHO by the state Govt. at Narangi Cantt at Guwahati..

6.5 acres of land have been allotted to AWHO at Kalindipuram at Allahabad.

. 4.9 acres of land have been acquired at Village Bibiwala for Jai Jawan Awas Yojna.

HOUSING LOAN FLEXI OR FIXED ?

Now a days all people who buy houses take housing loans to partly finance the cost. Earlier most of AWHO allottees used to hesitate in taking a loan and when they took it, it was only as much as was absolutely necessary. They debated whether to take a housing loan or not. Today the debate is whether to take a loan at flexible (also termed floating or variable by many agencies) or fixed interest rates.

Interest rates on housing loans have been fluctuating quite a lot since last five years. The rates moved southwards so much that from 13-14% they came down to 6.5-7.5%.This gave boost to housing industry and the buyers began to opt for bigger and bigger loans. But things began to change by 2005 when interest rates started moving up again.

With the latest round of increase in the interest rates floating rates are now 9.5%-10.5% depending on the tenure of loan. Taking Nov 2004 as reference point, EMIs have increased by almost 25% on twenty five years loan from Rs. 790 per one lakh to Rs 982 per lakh at present.

Earlier, loaning agencies used to increase the tenure of repayment to keep the EMI unchanged. But now it may not be possible in most cases because agencies do not want the repayment period extending into retirement period. As a result loaning agencies will have to increase the EMI. Only in case of very young borrowers and very recent borrowers tenures may be increased like in the past.

As the prime lending rate has increased, fixed rate of interest has also increased. New rates will be applicable only to new borrowers, unless the loaning agency had some conditions in fine print.

Many borrowers are panicking due to so many hikes in the floating interest rates. They are keen to switch to fixed rate of interest for which 1.5-2% of loan amount will have to be given as switch charges. Fixed rate of interest is likely to be 11-11.25%. That means, in the first year loan will be costing 13% per annum. Then onwards it will cost 11-11.25% for entire term of loan, even if home loan interest rates come down in the future.

Many bankers feel that chances of interest rates going up by three percent are very remote. If interest rate goes up to 13% then EMIs will increase by 20% from present level. This will really lead to slowing down of construction activity. The housing sector will definitely be adversely affected. Therefore, many bankers are of the opinion that Home loan interest rates have peaked. In medium to long term, they would start declining to adjust with the global rates which are much lower at around 6-8%. Those who shift to fixed rate now will not be able to avail the benefit of any decline in the rate of interest. Therefore it is felt that it would be better for a borrower to stick to the floating/variable rate loan scheme at the moment. In view of this opinion of the Bankers it is advised that allottees before taking any loan discuss this issue in detail with their loaning agencies.