)
Originally aiming to develop a 25,000-acre complex on the Sahyadri mountains with an investment of about Rs 3,000 crore, Lavasa is nothing if not an ambitious project.
A 15-minute film extolling the virtues of a planned city in the hills, peppered with poetic lines by Balzac, Lord Byron and Maurice Genevoix, is played for visitors and potential investors at an experience centre in Lavasa, near Pune. Accompanying visuals of people reading, walking dogs and skating on the picturesque waterfront promenade is a sonorous voice that says, "Due to be completed by the end of 2010, Dasve will be a vibrant, pulsating place to live in, offering all the stimulants of city life." However, the completion date for Dasve town, Lavasa's first phase of development, had been pushed to the end of 2013 or early 2014. The current development plan stands at 18,000 acres.
Like several large infrastructure projects, Lavasa, being constructed by a unit of Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), was mired in controversy - charges of illegal land acquisition and violation of environmental norms were levelled against it. Allegations were also raised about the financial gains to Union Minister Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule and her husband Sadanand Sule and the swiftness of approvals. The company has denied most of them. In 2004, Lavasa got the environmental nod from the state government and jumped to develop sleepy hills into a bustling 365-day economy until the central government issued a 'show-cause and stop-work' notice in late 2010.
The order resulted in losses of about Rs 730 crore for the parent firm while also worrying investors and business partners. "Prices have appreciated by about 40 per cent in 3-4 to four years but it could have been better had it not been for the problems that Lavasa ran into on environmental issues," says Rupa Devi Singh, former CEO of Power Exchange India, who has invested in a 2BHK villa. "It stalled the work and gave the project negative publicity, thus discouraging fresh demand." Prices start from Rs 3,850 per square foot. Houses range from apartments to villas, and cost between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 3.5 crore. The company says demand is recovering.
Development stumbled for a while after November 2011, when work was resumed. Deals with banks were renegotiated. The number of construction workers, around 10,000 at the peak of construction, had dwindled to a few thousands as the labourers returned to their hometowns inBihar and Bengal. That figure has climbed to about 5,000 now and is expected to return to full strength only after the monsoons. The region sees five months of rain, reducing the time available for construction. Some 300 houses out of a total of about 2,000 in Dasve were handed over to owners recently.
* * *
The characteristic chaos of urban life disappears in the course of a four-hour drive from Mumbai, giving way to smaller towns and motley rows of mechanic shops, resorts and unremarkable restaurants. A long and winding journey through Wakad and Pirangut towns leads into Dasve - an orderly arrangement of buildings set in the gently sloping Sahyadris that flank the scenic Warasgaon lake.The plan for Lavasa, promoted by HCC along with Venkateshwara Hatcheries, Avantha Group and private investor Vinay Vithal Maniar, is well-etched. Four more towns are expected to come up, each catering to different needs. Dasve houses centres for education, hospitality and tourism, while other towns will look at sports, medicine, retail, recreation and industry. However, permanent settlement of families is yet to take off in a big way as people are waiting for the whole economy to develop. About 1,000 residents have moved in, most of them employed by Lavasa Corp at the four hotels, adventure sports companies, restaurants, a school and a college. The rest of the occupants of Dasve currently include about 9,700 migrant construction workers and villagers. The total population of Lavasa was projected to be 300,000 initially.
Even in remote hilly ranges 3,000 square feet above sea level, Lavasa expected to start thriving within a few years of its inception. But the formation of proper cities is a long-drawn process that depends on many factors. "You can build buildings, but not people," says Abhay Pethe, urban economist and professor at Mumbai University. "For families to move in, there have to be plenty of economic opportunities along with the roads and houses." If that happens, Lavasa could serve as a small or medium town that would relieve some pressure and dampen real estate prices in neighbouring big cities, observes Pethe. Until then, he expects IT professionals working in nearby areas like Hinjewadi to choose to live there.
As of now, the functioning educational institutions at Lavasa are an international hospitality college and a school catering to 180 underprivileged students from local villages. An international school, Le Mont, is set to open and Symbiosis plans to build a college in the future. Restaurants are aplenty but other than a few meagrely stocked shops run by villagers, there are no major general-supply stores. To arrange for services including plumbing, citizens are asked to call the city helpline.
Tourism, on the other hand, has been increasing. The number of tourists rose 34 per cent to about 700,000 in 2012, compared with 500,000 in 2011. To entertain visitors, four hotels, nature trails and adventure sports services have come up. During weekends, when the crowds, usually from Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Pune, are healthy, the town hosts concerts and activities at its convention centre. The lakeside is Lavasa's flagship attraction and now has drawn interest as a location for advertisements and films. The buildings around it were designed by architect Hafeez Contracter to look like the Italian fishing village of Portofino with low-rise buildings in red, yellow and orange. Several home owners use their houses as weekend getaways.
* * *
Among the neat rows of designer homes in Dasve, some pockets stick out. Here, a few villagers who retained their land have developed small buildings or businesses - tea shops, eateries and small grocery stores mostly frequented by labourers. At a bamboo crafts factory, 60 locals have been trained and another set works at a nursery. While some locals are happy with the affairs, a few who had sold their land are miffed. "The construction of our rehabilitation gaothan (a village-like settlement) in Ramnagar has not yet been completed," says Mulaji Margale, deputy sarpanch of Dasve village. The families are temporarily living in sheds of tin sheets. However, Lavasa's presence has given them easy access to roads and electricity, says Margale.Having faced environmental probes, the company is treading carefully. To relieve the pressure on the Warasgaon reservoir, its water is used only for drinking, while waste water is treated for use in gardening and cleaning. The mandated 0.3 FSI means 30 per cent of the land is being developed while 70 per cent is kept green. The crude beauty of the hills seems somewhat tamed in the company of Lavasa's neat houses. The firm has been making efforts to plant trees and use hydroseeding, which makes grass grow in even patches.
Devi Singh is looking forward to moving in after two years and seeing the various phases coming up in the next decade. "You have the assurance that 50 years from now, the place would perhaps look the same - uncluttered, serene, convenient and safe," she says. It is an expectation several investors have bet on.As a weekend retreat, Lavasa has no doubt been ticking but its success as a fully-functioning city is far from recognisable.
