- Over 300 premium wood villas to be constructed at BTR Greens, Hyderabad
- Government of Telangana will extend all support to Canada & looks forward to Canada investing in the state of Telangana: Gaddam Ranjith Reddy
- Telangana is our priority; we made a commitment to the state & will be here for the long term: Andrew Smith
- Wood housing being environment friendly needs encouragement from Government by way of incentives to end users on GST & other tax incentives: Nawab Mir Nasir Ali Khan
Hyderabad, October 9, 2021: MAK Projects – a Hyderabad based premier Infrastructure, Housing and Development Company; in collaboration with the Canadian Wood – a crown agency of the Government of British Columbia, Canada; has announced its foray into Hyderabad’s maiden premium Canadian Wood Villa Project, at BTR Greens, in the heart of Hyderabad’s Knowledge City, on Srisailam Highway in Maheswaram Mandal. The replica of the Canadian Wood Villa was formally unveiled by the Chief Guest Dr Gaddam Ranjith Reddy, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha; at the BTR Greens; Thummaluru Village, Maheswaram Mandal, today. Also present were Guest of Honor Mr Andrew Smith, Minister (Commercial), High Commission of Canada in India, New Delhi; Mr Pranesh Chhibber, Country Director, Canadian Wood and H.E. Dr Nawab Mir Nasir Ali Khan, The Honorary Consul of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Hyderabad for the states of Telangana & Andhra Pradesh and Promoter & Managing Director of MAK Projects Pvt Ltd.
The state-of-the-art 300 premium wood villas being constructed by MAK Projects will be part of the expansive and world-class gated community. Spread over 250 acres in the heart of Hyderabad’s Knowledge City, BTR Greens, the project is designed to offer luxuries of the city-life in a serene environment, that stands apart in its appeal and ambience.
Dr Gaddam Ranjith Reddy said, when I was invited to inaugurate this wooden villa project, honestly, I was taken aback, because that concept of wooden housing existed during our ancient times, an era during which all our houses were constructed with wood, cow dung and mud, but that led to exploitation of forests for house building which resulted in forest depletion. That’s when we took a step back for the sake of environment protection and preservation, as we are accountable and answerable to our future generations and survival of mankind was at stake. The only difference between India and Canada is for all those trees we cut, we never planted more saplings to balance the loss, while in Canada you have a restriction of cutting only 1% of the forest, we didn’t have such restrictions. So, it’s very difficult to get teak wood in India for furniture. We always knew wood was classy, the look is royal and elegant, it’s a good insulator for heat and cold, wooden houses also bring down the stress on sand and stone here, but wood availability is an issue in India. I can assure you on behalf of Government of Telangana that all the support you desire from our side will be extended but look forward to Canada investing in the state of Telangana in a big way.
Mr Andrew Smith said, let us assure that Telangana is our priority too, we have a trade office here, we made a commitment to the state, so we will be here for the long term. As you all are aware, Canada and India enjoy a very robust relationship and are poised to develop a stronger and deeper relationship following COVID and sustainable housing could be one of those planks that goes forward as our relationship builds. Let me talk about the significance of Canada, India relationship, this is an economic relationship, that is approaching $ 100bn. if you look at the trade in goods and services, investments two way, remittances from students going to Canada from India, it now approaches a $100bn. Our relationship pre-COVID in terms of economic figures was exceeding every metric, in five years trade increased 62%. Pre-COVID India was one of our fastest growing major trade partners. Our Foreign and Trade Ministers and our Prime Ministers communicate regularly. Throughout COVID our governments extended strong support to each other, whether it is exchange of pharmaceutical and medical devices each country needed, repatriation of our citizens during the early days of COVID lockdown. Each country has been there when other needed them. Canada India ties have tremendous social and cultural bonds. Canada is the home to the eighth largest diaspora of Indians; India leads in every class of emigration to Canada. Canada is also the favorite destination for Indian students, 40% of international students in Canada now come from India and that total has surpassed the number of students in UK or Australia or even the USA now. Our trade cooperation between India and Canada has opened new channels and new sectors. Particularly here in Hyderabad, my focus in the last couple of days was to explore the life sciences and pharmaceutical sectors. But also in Jewelry, Mechanical appliances, aircraft, textiles, engineering, software steel, we have a multitude of relationships across various sectors. From Canada, India acquires wood, electrical machines, helicopters, fuel, fertilizers, $1 bn Canadian diamonds makes its way to India every year. Canada is recognized as a global leader in sustainable forest management, wood construction saves resources such as water and sand, in short supply here in India.
Commenting on the collaboration H.E. Dr Nawab Mir Nasir Ali Khan, Promoter & Managing Director, MAK Projects Pvt. Ltd., said; The Canadian Wood Villa is a significant step by MAK Projects. This landmark collaboration between Canadian Wood and MAK Projects is aimed at promoting sustainable wood housing in India. We expect lot of Government support for this new project of wood villas, constructions with wood is a new industry, also wood is bio-degradable, recyclable, reusable, eco-friendly, carbon negative, multiple advantages, it saves water, saves sand. We as developers are not looking for any incentives from Government, but if they can give some incentives to the end user in terms of stamp duty registration, property registration, municipal tax, which makes lucrative for people to invest in this area. From Central Government too we would look for some concession in GST, because Government of India is giving lot of incentives to electric car for being non-polluting, similarly wood housing is very good for environment and non-polluting. Wood is a sustainable, renewable and natural building material. It can simultaneously achieve reduced carbon emissions, bring about increased sustainability in a building’s life cycle, and offer improved occupant well-being. As compared to concrete and steel, it offers high strength-to-weight ratio and excellent design flexibility. Wood is known to be a very good insulator of heat and cold and is 15 times better than concrete and 400 times better than steel. BTR Greens is an integrated facility with infrastructure and sports facilities. As part of the first phase, we built 300 villas in a 70-acre area with club house, squash and tennis court, spas, theatre etc. In the second phase made provision for 150 customed built homes spread over 40-acre area. In the phase three we developed cricket ground, indoor shuttle court, yoga room, with 700 hundred houses.
Speaking about the launch of Canadian Wood Villa, Mr Pranesh Chhibber – Country Director, Canadian Wood said: Growing awareness of the relationship between human health, the environment and the economy has led to a rise in the concept of sustainable wood homes in India. It’s a responsible decision to choose wood species such as Canadian Wood that are sourced from sustainably managed forests of British Columbia. Additionally, we began supporting the developers by arranging the required architectural and structural engineering expertise from Canada to build with wood. The collaboration with MAK Projects is one such example of our efforts.
The Model villa, which was unveiled, has been made from ready-to-use, seasoned, sized, graded, and certified lumber from British Columbia. It’s been built in Wood Frame Construction (WFC) style with Canadian Spruce-pine-fir. Spruce-pine-fir wood species is known globally for its high dimensional strength and stability, making it the perfect choice for structural applications. WFC style of construction is one of the most widely used methods to build in North America. This technique optimizes the building process by helping reduce the time and cost involved in the construction process. All technical and material assistance was provided by Canadian Wood on the project.