UP new hot spot for real estate

Uttar Pradesh has emerged as the new hot spot for real estate developers considering the growing opportunities in the smaller cites of the country.

The state has seen a surge among developers to acquire prime locations to start their ventures. The trend of integrated township, based on "city within a city" concept, is catching up fast.

Lucknow alone in the recent past has seen a host of developers start their ventures. Omaxe, Parsvnath, Ansal API, M-tech and Sahara are the frontrunners in the same.

Explaining the trend, Suryaveer Singh, spokesperson, Sahara Infrastructure and Housing (SIH), said, "Lucknow has got potential to sustain the real estate boom. This is propelled by the advent of IT and the flourishing service sector apart from the presence of leading corporates, government and private sector office and educational institutions as well."

Agreeing to it BP Dhaka, spokesperson, Parsvnath Developers Ltd, added, "Lucknow, in addition to being state capital of UP, is the part of developed triangle Lucknow, Kanpur and Allahabad and has huge catchments area for bulk trade. Lucknow has its own standing in integrated townships considering industrial belt and lot of government offices."

Integrated townships, as the name suggest, are build on a model of having a complete town with all basic amenities. The idea is to have all basic and necessary requirements like residential apartments, hospitals, schools, parks along with luxuries like malls and shopping complexes at one place in vicinity.

These townships are also seen to help the public at large to have facilities which were in a way restricted to the metro cities of the country. They have also assisted in bringing best in the field amenities like hospitals, golf course, schools in these smaller towns, which otherwise would have been a distant reality.

For example, Ansal has joined hands with the premier in healthcare industry, the Fortis Healthcare Holding Limited, for setting up a world class Medicity at its Lucknow Township. The Medicity, as proposed, will be spread over 52 acres of land and will be completed in about 7 years. In addition, it also proposes to have a Golf City and a Mahesh Bhupati Tennis Academy (spread across 5 acres).

SIH, on the other hand, aims at having a Sahara Mini Hospital with telemedicine, while Parsvnath will house Landscaped Parks with wide tree lined avenues. All these will be in addition to the shopping malls, multiplexes, hotels, clubs, community centres and central parks with unique features exclusive to the different townships.

"We at Ansal also propose to have at our township an IT park, a bio-tech park and vast expanses of educational and institutional zones to generate employment for the people living within the city as well as to the people of Lucknow as a whole," informed Ramesh Yadav, executive director operations (Lucknow), Ansal API.

The Sahara Township at Lucknow is spread across an area of 200 acres Sahara City Homes the township will house approximately 5,255 residential units. The estimated worth of Lucknow township is Rs 2,000 crores. Sahara Infrastructure and Housing is at present involved in a magnanimous project called Sahara City Homes, under which it aims to develop townships in 217 cities across the country; while in Uttar Pradesh the count is 50, including Lucknow.

While the township established by Ansal Properties and Infrastructure, will cover a total area of 1,765 acres; of which about 1,200 acres is already acquired by the same directly from the farmers. The Parsvnath Developers have a total of 22 residential projects in line in Uttar Pradesh of which six projects have are successfully completed and handed over.

The average price for various residential units under townships varies from Rs. 20 lac to over a few crores. "The Golf Villa in our township is approximately priced at Rs. 3 crores," informed Kunal Banerji, President (Marketing and Corporate Communications), Ansal API.

But now the question arises as to how these townships are viewed by their prospective customers; is the public ready to invest in these townships and thus prepared to settle in them as their permanent home.

The answer is an absolute yes.

"My parents are not willing to settle in a new place for we have our roots in Lucknow. Also given the fact that I have little hope of coming back to the city, therefore, the options of getting them a comfortable residence in one of these townships is a better idea. It also resolves my apprehension about their security, especially seeing the increasing crime rate in the city," explains an IT professional at present working in Bangalore.

Besides being an opportunity to provide a state-of-the art living facility to ones family, buying a residential unit in these townships is also seen by many as an investment activity.

"Real estate at present is a booming industry and any investment in the same will for sure yield fruitful returns in near future".

These townships are also aiming to catch the attention of non-resident Indians (NRI) for they have their sale centres being set up at various foreign locations including USA, Dubai and UK.