City Development and We

In the last 10 years, Nagpur has witnessed fast development, changing life style and rising standards in living. With the growing demand for commercial and office space, residential areas, growth in retail, the city has become the core axis of economic growth. Interestingly, the projects like MIHAN and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) have fuelled the rates of land in the outskirts of city. Particularly, the stretch of 40 km land from Hudkeshwar to Wardha Road is neck-to-neck with other metros as far as rates being quoted are concerned. In these boom times, an estimated 10,000 acres of land has changed hands from an investment point of view. Of them, 50 per cent are local and remaining are outsiders from cities like Mumbai, Raipur, Delhi, Kolkata and even people from overseas like Dubai. The rates of land are almost touching the roof by clocking an appreciation of 200 per cent in the last 5 years.

“Nagpur is getting cluttered with commercial offices, hotels, malls, multiplexes and townships making it one of the most vibrant cities in the country,” said Jayant Dalvi, President of Vidarbha Land Developers Association. As the city is growing at a faster pace with development taking place in MIHAN, the population is bound to swell in times to come. “If you see Wardha Road today, you will find lot of activity taking place altering the equation of land rates,” he said. Presently, the investment in land was safer as compared to stock market and gold. “Stock market is unpredictable, although the rates of gold have inched up but there is more appreciation in the rates of land,” he pointed out. For developers, MIHAN may be the only USP for selling land but Dalvi said there were other things like setting up of newer educational institutes, increase in air connectivity and growth of IT sector. These cannot be neglected, he said and added that in times to come, there would not just be vertical growth but horizontal growth too. In such situation, Nagpur would not be able to provide accommodation to its burgeoning population. People have to look beyond the horizon if they want to make the city vibrant, he said. Dalvi said that the local administration that had broached new norms for developers on clearance of new layouts should not be so rigid. The local administration excluding some areas has said that those layouts which have proximity of 500 metres to the gaothan (village) would be given clearance. “Clearance should also be given to the adjacent layouts too as it would hinder the infrastructure development,” he pointed out. The new norms framed by the District Collector that developers for new layouts should first provide basic amenities like tar roads, assurance of 24-hour water and electric supply, drainage etc. was a welcome step. “We welcome the new proposal with open arms as it will boost the confidence of investors,” he said. Dalvi suggested that people before investing their hard-earned money should first get their doubts cleared by taking the help of well-known consultants. “One should not stand in line because others are standing. They should see why people are standing and then think twice before opening their purses to pour money into the project,” he suggested. He said that the New Metro Region map designed by the Nagpur Municipal Corporation should be immediately given green signal by the State Government as it would change the skyline of the city at a faster pace. New projects would come up creating a large scope for job opportunities and take vertical growth to newer heights. l

~ by nagpurestate on October 31, 2008.