Gateway to confusion?

It may be hailed as the 'Gateway to the Gods', but there's something unholy about real-estate development in Haridwar.

The look and feel of a boom town is missing when you enter Haridwar. You go to the holy ghats there and it's business as usual (religious business, that is) "" but are no signs whatsoever of a real estate boom. However, if you've been tracking ads in newspapers in the last year, you would guess that a boom is surely building up.

There have been pre-launches galore from various builders, most of whom one hasn't ever heard of (except in the last year, on the radio, newspapers and across big hoardings). This is the story of Haridwar, "Gateway to the Gods".

The concept of apartments is alien as yet to local residents. Most locals, as in other smaller towns, stay in individual houses, though there were some builders like the Ansals who cashed in on the opportunity of providing studio apartments to outsiders.

Frequent travellers to the holy city lapped up these 1- and 2-room apartments which they could use when they travelled to the city, or to give out to friends and relatives.

The new wave, though, is very recent, the State Infrastructure & Industrial Development Corporation of Uttaranchal (SIDCUL) at Haridwar being one big catalyst.

With over 250 industries being set up in the complex, there will be a huge demand for housing in the near future. An estimate by a local expert (a conservative one, he clarifies) puts the demand for housing in Haridwar at 2,000 units at the least.

Most new developments in the city are happening either around SIDCUL or towards Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Yogpeeth on the Haridwar-Delhi Road. According to a local property agent who did not want to be identified, over the last two years, while the cost of land in the city has doubled, land near Patanjali has seen a four-fold jump in prices.

Take a drive down the Haridwar-Delhi road till Patanjali and even beyond and you will see numerous new projects being planned. Who are building these? The same little-known builders we were talking about at the start.

At the moment though, nothing much is on the ground "" only blank spaces with large hoardings and perhaps a few site offices where you'd be helped with brochures of upcoming projects. Ask those at site offices and no one has an idea about how much land the project will cover, let alone how much land has been acquired.

One local property agent puts it aptly: "I am not too interested in selling these new projects, even though the brokerage being offered is very attractive. The reason is simple "" I have no idea about the antecedents of these projects. Selling pre-launches could be dangerous for local agents like us. If a company runs away with the money, it will ruin our name. We still have to do business in the city."

Most of these developers are selling plots and apartments in pre-launches, which according to the Supreme Court is now illegal.

One has to hear the kind of brokerages being offered to believe it. One developer is offering a 5 per cent commission and a Santro car to agents who sell 15 flats. The deal becomes more lucrative if you sell more flats "" 6 per cent and a Ford Fiesta for 30 flats and 7 per cent and a Honda City for 50 flats and above. Even with these goodies, the agent is obviously worried about his reputation.

When Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) was set up at Haridwar (just next to it now is SIDCUL), a new residential area called Shivalik Nagar was developed to satisfy the demand created by BHEL.

An official at a large plant under construction at SIDCUL says that the new industrial area has fuelled a second wave of construction at Shivalik Nagar, where most one-storied houses are adding another floor to let out to the large inflow of construction personnel.

When the industrial area finally settles down in a few years, Shivalik Nagar will have a decent supply to handle most of SIDCUL. Within SIDCUL, there are about 900 apartments being developed at Deep Ganga by Delhi Apartments builders. There is also a plan for a mall, two multiplexes and a star hotel as well.

On the stretch towards Patanjali, there are boards on projects like the Tridev City by Alka India, Santoor City, Vian Haridwar and Arun Dev City by Arun Dev Builders. All these projects haven't yet seen ground breaking though there are a couple along the way which have started construction "" one by Vardhaman Developers and the other called Gitanjli Residency, just next to Patanjali.

Brokers have doubts about whether the ones that haven't started construction yet have the requisite permissions and land to develop such large projects. A senior at Vian Haridwar himself agrees that out of the 3,000 bighas they are looking at, only 700-800 have been acquired as yet. Local agents too are sceptical about land holdings by these companies.

A glance at the brochures of some of these is enough to get a picture of their ambitious plans. Vian Haridwar plans to have five-star deluxe hotels, an IT park, plots, villas, apartments, service apartments, shopping malls and multiplexes and even a mini golf course in the project.

Surprisingly though, the brochure does not mention exactly where the project is located "" there is no address except that it is close to Patanjali.

Are there enough buyers who can invest in properties in Haridwar? A senior official at Vardhaman Developers says they are looking at the higher staff at SIDCUL factories.

About 30 per cent of their project is already sold, of which most buyers are local, and they are also in talks with the likes of ITC, HLL and M&M, which have set up plants within the industrial area. Vardhaman has been getting enquiries from Roorkee, Dehra Dun and even Gurgaon and Delhi.

Vardhaman Developers are building villas, apartments, a mall with a multiplex as well as a five-star hotel on a 35 acre site at a project cost of about Rs 500-600 crore.

Surinder Ghei, director, Gitanjli Residency, has a slightly different take. They are getting several buyers from Haridwar city itself. "Many people are selling their plots in the city for a hefty price and getting a house on the outskirts for half the price," he says.

One would imagine that properties developed in the holy city would have some spiritual bearings. There is not much on display in any of these projects, except in their brochures which never miss shots of the holy ghats of Haridwar.

But the whole business of real estate in Haridwar, from the looks of it at the moment, seems to be pretty unholy.