The Oberoi Group is headed towards a strategic partnership with Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Group for developing hotels and real estate property complexes in Bangalore and Goa.

The government is expected to clear a new financing tool on Friday, which would help infrastructure project developers access funds at a cheaper rate based on a guarantee and also free funds for banks to lend to industry and retail borrowers. To begin with, this product-called credit enhancement-would provide funding support of around Rs 15,000 crore.

Realising that it cannot continue to ignore public outcry over the sorry state of Mumbai’s roads, the state government on August 4 ordered agencies responsible to fill all potholes within 48 hours. The government is also thinking of long-term solutions and is planning to change the way road contracts are assigned.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been insisting that the bigger companies that handle infrastructure projects have their own reasons for staying away from bidding for the Rs 550-crore road project, but a close look at clauses and conditions in the tender show that they are designed unattractively for anyone but its usual set of contractors.

With the Allahabad High Court giving farmers an option of out-of-court settlement with GNDA, flat buyers and builders in Greater Noida today expressed hope that a solution will emerge before the August 12 deadline.