By Fakir Balaji, IANS,
Panaji : About 300 delegates from India and abroad have descended on this picturesque coastal city to draw up a blueprint for planned urban development and healthy growth of realty sector in the country.
Touted to be the first of its kind at a national level, the three-day “Girem Urban Development and Real Estate Leadership Summit” from Thursday will deliberate on policy issues, land acquisition, funding, labour, material cost, affordability and matters concerning the multi-billion-rupee sector.
Organised by the Bangalore-based event management firm Triple Tree Exhibitions and Sports Ltd in partnership with global realty consultants Cushman and Wakefield and Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM), the summit will also address growth and demand-supply mismatch for industrial, retail and housing needs.
“The economic boom over the last seven-eight years has led to a dramatic spurt in demand for commercial and housing space across the country, especially in and around metros and cities,” Triple Tree executive director Shyam Sundar told IANS here on the eve of the event.
With economic activity being urban-centric, there has been a tremendous pressure on scarce land for industrial, commercial, retail and housing projects.
In the absence of a uniform national policy on planning and regulation, expansion has been haphazard, resulting in chaotic growth, speculation and legal battles, said Sundar.
Growing urbanisation and increasing migration of people from rural India to cities and metros in pursuit of employment, education, healthcare and quality life have exerted untold pressure on civic resources and basic amenities.
As India’s IT hub, a choked Bangalore is a classic example of a city becoming a victim of its own ‘success’ in the absence of support infrastructure and planned urban development.
Various studies have estimated the demographic ratio between rural and urban India will reverse by 2020, resulting in over 70 percent of the population living in cities and towns and 30 percent in the countryside.
Currently, of the 1.14-billion population, about 800 million people live in rural areas and around 300 million in urban areas.
Rapid urbanisation and migration from rural to urban areas over the last two decades has been unprecedented in contrast to the sluggish movement for over 100 years.
“The economic reforms of the early nineties and prolific growth of services and manufacturing sectors have unleashed exponential demand for industrial, commercial, retail and housing space,” said Cushman and Wakefield India joint managing director Anurag Mathur.
“It also gave impetus to allied sectors such as hospitality, logistics, travel, tourism, entertainment, healthcare and retail,” he added.
A beginning has been made for planned urban development in at Lavasa hill station and Magarpatta near Pune in Maharashtra, Mahindra world city near Chennai, Urvashi at Asansol and Ulhas at Bardhaman in West Bengal, and Ambuja Realtys’ dream city at Amritsar.
With central and state governments focusing more on social and farm sectors, the onus for planned urban development lies squarely with the private sector.
New business models have to be evolved to create an ecosystem to meet the multiple needs of city-dwellers.
To be unveiled by Goa chief minister Digambar Kamat, the event will showcase about 1,000 commercial and retail spaces for prospective investors, customers and other stakeholders.
Union urban development minister S. Jaipal Reddy will address the delegates at the leadership talk on urban planning and realty sector.
Eminent economist Jagdish Bhagwati, Jones Lang LaSalle Asia-Pacific CEO Peter Barge and Allen and Gledhill partner Jerry Koh are among the keynote speakers.