By Aparajita Gupta, IANS,
Kolkata : As land becomes scarce and apartment prices spiral in this eastern Indian metropolis, the middle class has started migrating beyond the city limits in search of affordable housing. And targeting this section are not only local realtors but investors from countries such as the UK and the US as well.
After the development of the Rajarhat area northeast of the city, where a showpiece satellite township is coming up, the new target of realtors seems to be neighbouring Barasat and Madhyamgram towns in the North 24 Parganas district, and Maheshtala in South 24 Parganas.
While Barasat is 30 km from the city, Madhyamgram is 24 km away, and Maheshtala is much nearer, being 13 km on the south.
The West Bengal Housing Board has taken up a Rs.800-million joint venture housing project in Barasat with developer Bengal Shelter Housing Development, said Barasat Municipality chairman Pradip Chakraborty.
“Our municipality is upgrading the sewerage system and augmenting water supply in a big way,” Chakraborty said.
However, most real estate development is taking place through the private sector.
One such real estate company is Eden, which is constructing several housing projects, all partially funded through foreign investment.
“Since all our projects are financed partially through foreign funds, we have to adhere to some guidelines, which make it imperative for us to look for land that is of significant size,” Eden chairman Indrajit De told IANS.
Under the rules, projects with foreign funding need to be spread over an area of 540,000 square feet, which roughly works out to five acres or more of land. “It is impossible to get such a huge tract of land within the city,” De said.
The other reason, which is driving these players out of the periphery of the city, is the escalating land price.
Rajarhat, close to the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, was once a hotspot for developers, but with land price skyrocketing in the past couple of years, the neighbourhood is not affordable for many builders at present.
At present, the price of flats at Rajarhat has touched Rs.3,200 per square foot, which is even higher than the rate for flats in the heart of the city.
“Eden has planned a condominium at Maheshtala targeted at the middle class people. Apart from the usual features of any building complex, we will offer users a football ground and we will make the entire area a wireless hotspot,” De added.
The company intends to pump in Rs.2.5 billion in Maheshtala over the next three years, out of which Rs.400 million is foreign investment, the rest being raised as advance against bookings.
Earlier, De said, European funds were more aggressive in investing in real estate as business practices in eastern Europe are very similar to that of India. But now US funds have also become very aggressive, he added.
Eden is actively working with Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Asset Management of the UK, and recently signed an agreement with Philadelphia-based Lubert-Adler.
REIT has already spent around $20 million with Eden.
Another reason that made Maheshtala attractive to De’s company is that it is the only municipality in West Bengal that has its own Geographical Information System (GIS) – an information system that allows data storage for, among other applications, urban planning and logistics.
Additionally, the municipality plans to widen the Budge Budge Trunk Road, which connects Maheshtala to Kolklata, from 12 metres to 25 metres.
Major residential projects in Maheshtala are Eden City and Calcutta Riverside. Several shopping malls, multiplex, clubs, sports complex with stadium, a golf course, information technology park, hospitals, schools and an engineering college are also coming up in the area.
At Maheshtala, flats are now selling at Rs.1,650 per square foot. The target end users are middle class people.
“Our focus is the low-income group and middle-income group segments. We are selling flats at Rs.1,179 per square foot at Barasat and Rs.1,500 per square foot at Madhyamgram,” Padmanabh Bhartia, director of real estate developers Fortune Group told IANS.
“We have completed Fortune City in Madhyamgram, which has 600 flats. We have come up with another project, Fortune Township, on Jessore Road in Barasat,” Bhartia added.
Fortune Township is spread over 40 acres.
Other condominiums coming up in the Barasat – Madhyamgram region are Airport City, Meera Garden, Larcia Estate, Sisir Kunja.
The proposed development work the state government has taken up in this stretch includes a 500-acre truck terminal, an inter-state bus terminus, a 100-acre Kolkata Logistic Hub and 425 acres for bio-tech park.
(Aparajita Gupta can be contacted at [email protected])