GREAT CONNECT

This sure is a ‘GREAT’ CONNECT!
Better connectivity to Greater Noida Sector 1 and 4 and has come as a respite to middle class buyers who can now own a home here
Prabhakar Sinha

Development of new connectivity can add immense value to an area. It not only provides opportunity to the developers to do more business but it also provides new options to end users. Best of all, it helps in containing the price rise of real estate in the main districts of a town.

The newly built bridge over Hindon river near Sectors 121 and 119 in Noida has reduced the distance of Greater Noida Sectors 1 and 4 from main Noida to almost half. Because of the bridge, Noida's connectivity has improved so much that the new area is being termed as Noida Extension. Since then, a number of developers in the area have launched apartments in the price range of Rs 9 lakh for one bedroom with a hall and kitchen apartment to Rs 15 lakh for a 2BHK and Rs 18 lakh for a 3BHK.

The distance of Sector 1 and Sector 4 of Greater Noida, where a number of townships are being developed, has reduced to about 11km from the main market place, Sector 18 in Noida, because of the bridge. Earlier, the distance from Sector 18 to the place was around 18km. The distance from the main commercial centers like Sectors 61 and 62 too has come down to around 8km.

The new bridge has also added value to Crossings Republik, a township on around 350 acres of land being developed by a consortium of around 10 developers. In this township, a number of projects are near completion and possessions are likely to be given to the buyers in the next couple of months. Before the construction of the new bridge, one had to travel to reach these areas via National Highway 24. Not only is the distance via NH-24 longer, but NH-24 also remains congested most of the time, and as a result homebuyers were reluctant to purchase apartments in these areas. The traffic along the stretch at Vijaynagar across Hindon river on NH-24 remains bad.

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is planning to expand NH-24 to six lanes, which will further improve the connectivity to the trans-Hindon area. But the implementation will take tame. And with the credibility NHAI on timely implementation of projects nothing to write home about, buyers are not ready to take any risk in buying a house in this area.

The new bridge on Hindon has come up on a 130-meter-wide connecting road from South Delhi via a bridge over Yamuna at Kalindi Kunj. If one drives down the road, it will take one straight to Sectors 121 and 119 through a number of other sectors in Noida as shown in the detailed map on page 14. The new connectivity will not only reduce the distance, it will also provide a clean and fast connectivity from other parts of NCR.

In fact, the road is yet to be constructed. Just before the bridge, around half a kilometer road is still not completed. However, as the work is on in full swing, work is expected to be over within a couple of weeks. However, the road across the bridge is motorable, and while one leads up to the main city of Greater Noida 12km down the road, the other forks off to connect NH-24 2km away, which is planned to be extended to Ghaziabad. In fact, the government has already notified the acquisition of the land, which is likely to be completed soon. If this road is completed and NH-24 is six-laned, the connectivity to this whole area to Delhi and Ghaziabad will further improve. The Crossings Republik, which is also just across the river, will be hugely benefited because of this connectivity.

At present, a number of developers including Gaursons, Amrapali and Supertech are developing large townships in the locality. The size of the each township is around 150 acre with all the latest amenities like schools, playgrounds, hospitals, market complexes and commercial space - in fact, Supertech has two townships lined up. Besides this, a number of small developers have also joined in to develop condominiums on smaller plots of 20 to 30 acres.

As the area is offers such a huge land mass for development, a number of commercial projects are also coming up in the locality. A large multi-specialty hospital is being developed by Metro Hospital group in the area. Besides this, an IT park has also been proposed in the area. Just along the Hindon, Greater Noida authority is planning to develop a number of housing projects. Such connectivity inevitably brings in a huge chunk of land into the mainstream on which residential areas for the middle-class communities could be developed.

The availability of large chunks of land to develop the housing apartments has made developers keep prices at highly competitive range. Most of the apartments in these areas have been launched for around Rs 1,800 per sq feet as the basic selling price. This has brought prices of apartments here within the affordable range for the middle class. After making payment for the cash-down component, one can buy a two-bedroom apartment for an EMI of around Rs 12,000 per month. That means, one, whose annual income is Rs 3 lakh per annum can afford to buy a house here. This has forced developers to not revise the prices.

Source: Economic Times Delhi, Date: Apr 23, 2010, Section: Realty,Page: 25