By Shyam Pandharipande, IANS
Nagpur : Even as this fast growing city in the heart of the country is witnessing unprecedented housing boom around the upcoming international cargo hub to the south, a unique mini-township wearing a European façade is taking shape near its northern end.
Proclaimed as central India’s premier mini-township, Pancham Estate boasts of a unique feature, dubbed “Venetia”, comprising compact, economical apartments that resemble those in Venice and similar European cities, besides luxury villas, row houses and shopping malls.
“I want to prove that decent housing can be affordable for an average salaried person,” Amit Panchmatia, promoter of Pancham Estate, told IANS.
With 250 families already living in Pancham Estate, the township will have a school and a hospital besides a clubhouse, manicured gardens with jogging tracks and playgrounds by the time the project is complete with about 1,000 families staying in, he said.
“The middle-class owners of the highly affordable Venetia flats will live here in the rich neighbourhood of high-end villas without feeling one bit inferior,” said Panchmatia, an engineering graduate from the city with a master’s degree in Science from the US.
The self-made real estate proprietor bought 75 acres for his dream project much before land prices in the city soared thanks to the upcoming multi-modal international hub airport of Nagpur or Mihan project.
Many more townships including those being executed by global players are coming up in and around the city known for its oranges, though Pancham Estate, already 25 percent complete, would be the first to be commissioned, hopefully by 2011.
Among the other high-profile projects are Sahara City and First City towards south of the city on Wardha Road in the vicinity of Mihan and Empress City right in the heart of Nagpur.
Reatox, an Indian subsidiary of a Malaysian real estate developer Mantri Group and P.D. Gupta Infrastructure are among some big names involved in the dizzying activity.
IT infrastructure developers DLF and Maytas (Satyam’s real estate wing) have already bought land for a special economic zone (SEZ) being developed in conjunction with Mihan to create housing facilities for a string of IT companies coming up in the dedicated park slotted for them.
The Tata hotels group, the Kamats of Orchid fame and Radisson have already rolled up their five-star plans. Jagdamba Realtors have bought 250 acres for their ultramodern farmhouses and a host of clubs and tennis courts are on the skyline.
“Sun and Sand’s five-star hotel is 60 percent complete,” said leading estate developer A.S. Iyer, who is doing the project along with the bigger one – the Jagdamba farmhouses.
“Jagdamba Realtors also have plans for a five-star hotel a few kilometres from Mihan,” Iyer told IANS.
Side by side with this is the state-of-the-art cricket stadium of the Vidarbha Cricket Association that it says will be the best in India – all this on Wardha Road that leads to Mahatma Gandhi’s Sewagram and its Bapu Kuti.
While this is happening on the outskirts, real estate prices are multiplying manifold even inside the city with big deals rivalling those in the four Indian metros making news from time to time.
Swanky multiplexes and malls popping up here and there are completing the story of the once sleepy city’s amazing metamorphosis that started eight years ago with its Integrated Road Development Project.