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Oct 6, 2009 5:21 PM |
Is Pune city growing too fast?
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Things are unbelievably looking up for city’s real estate sector. According to the latest report published by global real estate tracker Cushman & Wakefield (C&W), Pune city will see a whopping 51 per cent compounded growth over the next five years — the highest for any Indian city.
The projection given out is on four sections of real estate viz. retail, office space, residential and hotel rooms.
“Pune is expected to see the highest compounded annual growth in retail demand at 51 per cent, owing to favourable demographics.
The total expected retail space demand for the city is projected at approximately 1.76 million square feet, office space at 21.7 million square feet, residential at 4 lakh plus units and hotel rooms’ demand at 30,000 rooms per night,” says the report.
City growing rapidly
“Pune city is developing rapidly. The multiple-pocket development is giving the city an edge over any other tier-II cities in the country.
We see demand coming from technology companies, telecom companies and industrial areas,” said Kaustuv Roy, executive director of C&W.
“For areas where new townships are emerging, infrastructure there is already developed. However, we don’t see much infrastructure development happening inside the city.
Pune is the next preferred destination for techies, since it offers a more cosmopolitan atmosphere, as compared to Chennai or Hyderabad. The new airport will be a real boost to the city’s growth rate,” he added.
City growing in all directions
“The city is growing in different directions. In the north-east, it’s from Kharadi to Ranjangaon with a mix of IT and industry.
In the south, it’s IT, in the south-west, beyond Pimpri-Chinchwad, it’s again industry, Hinjewadi is IT, so on and so forth. So growth is taking place in all parts.
Pune is not exactly a tourist destination, so the hotel demand is purely driven by business centred in the city. If the industry, IT and other office space is going to grow, the need of hotel rooms may be higher than projected by C&W,” said Gera.
Is Pune geared to handle such growth?
But the question here is, is the city geared up to handle such a robust growth as that projected by the C&W report? In view of Pune’s geographical advantage, builders and sectorial experts feel it is.
They point out that Pune is all set to be the next Silicon Valley of India, with numerous multi-nationals as well as domestic IT companies setting up centres here, including the peripheral areas.
The city, according to the experts, is well-spread, offering the flexibility for such facilities to be set up here.
Need lot in terms of infrastructure: credai
“If we take the projection of growth for the city for the next five years, then a lot needs to be done in terms of infrastructure and approvals.
For instance, for the 4 lakh housing units alone, a unit with 1,000 square feet of space translates to 40 crore square feet of space. Sanctioning fees of Rs 100 per square feet is going to fetch Rs 4,000 crore for the authorities.
Hence, it is critical the right amount of money is spent on infrastructure development,” pointed out Rohit Gera, spokesperson of Confederation Of Real Estate Developers Association Of India (CREDAI).
51% growth certain in 7, if not 5, years
The new IT facilities, BPOs, KPOs, corporate offices and the R&D centre are expected to compound to 51 per cent growth in real estate in the city.
As Gera puts it, this development may not be realistic in the said five years, but could take place in say, seven years instead. What cannot be gainsaid is that the numbers are definitely going to be met.
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Source : Pune Mirror |
