Indian Real Estate

The skyline at Kokapet, a Hyderabad suburb, could see some dramatic changes with real estate firms, builders, hoteliers and construction kings from Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore firming up plans to construct star hotels, IT knowledge parks, residential and commercial high-rise ventures. Land at the so-called “Golden Mile Layout” in Kokapet was auctioned for fabulous sums of money last month.

And going by the plans of some of the buyers, construction activity in the layout will commence in less than two years. According to Hyderabad Urban Development Authority Secretary and Auction Officer Venkatram Reddy, the construction activity is likely to cost Rs 2,000 crore, which in turn would generate employment for thousands of people.

The Mumbai-based Lake Point Builders, the flagship company of Hiranandani Group has plans of developing residential and commercial ventures and high-rise buildings in the 4.05 acres of land in Site-I of Golden Mile layout and another 1.487 acres in site-II. It also plans to build a three-star hotel. “Our main focus will be on residential ventures. Our ventures will change the entire concept of residential living here,” says Hiranandani Group General Manager (Finance) Rohit Chugani. The Hiranandani group is one of the largest real estate developers in the country, with the group developing a residential township spread over 300 acres in Powai, a suburb of Mumbai.

Residential and commercial projects are what the Bangalore-based Prestige Garden Estates Pvt Limited plans to concentrate on in the three large pieces of land they have purchased in the Golden Mile layout. These include 6.350 acres in Site-I, and two other pieces measuring 4.534 acres and 3.33 acres in Site-II. According to Prestige Point executives, a change in the living style of Hyderabad is what they wish to bring about. The Prestige group is one of the largest in southern India and has so far completed 120 projects with a built up area of over 10 million sq. ft of commercial and residential area in Bangalore, the executives say.

The New Delhi-based Today Group of Hotels proposes to build a five-star deluxe hotel in the “Golden Mile” area. The group’s advisor (hospitality sector) Ramesh Koul says, “We want to create a beautiful five-star hotel for the domestic and international traffic that the proposed international airport at Shamshabad will generate.”

Ishoo Narang of the Bangalore-based IBC Knowledge Park which purchased 5.355 acres said they were planning to build IT parks and residential ventures for the people working in IT and IT-enabled services in and around Shamshabad, Ranga Reddy district. The builders and developers say that Hyderabad's growing high-tech and pharmaceuticals sector had encouraged them to bid for land at Kokapet. According to them, Hyderabad comes next to Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Chennai in terms of the real estate market.

While the lavish proposals of the developers have created a buzz in the Hyderabad real estate market, it remains to be seen, however, whether they will be breaking ground anytime soon, and complete the projects on schedule.