In Pune, the great integrated township rush has begun

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Pune: Pune of 2020 will be nothing like what the city is today. The small city’s boundaries are being stretched in all directions. Now, the city is gaining suburbia around itself. Adding another totally new dimension to the city is the rush of integrated townships into Pune.

The city is set to reap a rich harvest for those having the capacity to invest and develop large tracts of land and put in the physical and social infrastructure. This is what the new Special Township Policy Act of the Maharashtra government stipulates. A minimum area of 100 acre, investment in public infrastructure, such as roads, water, sewage—an integrated approach to development of townships to decongest municipal corporation areas and encourage new settlements in the periphery though higher FSI (floor space index) than what is normally allowed in the municipal limits.

There is a rush to develop all these in Pune. Three of these townships have already started taking shape. City Development Corporation’s Amanora Park Town took off first with its 400-acre Rs 10,000-crore township, followed by Paranjape Schemes Construction’s 138-acre Rs 3,200 crore Blue Ridge and Megapolis, a Rs 1,500-crore 150-acre project by Pegasus Properties Pvt Ltd, a joint venture between Kumar Properties and the Avinash Bhosale Group.

More are waiting to take off. HCC Real Estate, the 100% subsidiary of Hindustan Construction Co Ltd has announced plans to get into a township project in Pune. The company is in the process of acquiring land and is planning a 500-acre township. It has indicated to analysts that it is in the process of acquiring 230 acre to create five million sq ft of development.

Lalit Kumar Jain, promoter of Kumar Builders, said his company had received clearance from the state government for three townships in Pune. The first one coming up at Hinjewadi phase II will be spread over 124 acre and will be launched in August 2008. Another Kumar township coming up spreads across 120 acre. The third township of 110 acre is slated to come up in Kharadi in September 2008.

The recently listed Kolte Patil Developers has a 450-acre township at Hinjewadi with ICICI Ventures investing in this venture with a 50% share in this project.