Gurgaon or Noida: Best Satellite Town of Delhi-NCR
F1 powers Noida as Gurgaon hit with perils of rapid, unplanned growth
Arati R Jerath and Prabhakar Sinha, TNN Nov 16, 2011, 12.06pm IST
The poor cousin from Mayaland never looked this close to eclipsing the Millennium City, which is now an urban sprawl with a creaking infrastructure. Rapid unplanned growth has been Gurgaon's bane, while Noida rides the twin advantages of better planning and competent trunk infrastructure.
The unveiling of the state of-the-art Formula One racing track in Greater Noida and the world-class Yamuna Expressway leading up to it have sent a frisson of concern coursing through Gurgaon on Delhi's southern border.
Suddenly, there's a buzz about the poor cousin from the east side. Almost overnight, the badlands of Mayawati Pradesh have transformed into a Shanghai miracle with a scale and quality of construction not seen before in India. And it's threatening to put swanky Gurgaon in the shade.
Touted as India's Millennium City, after its metamorphosis over the last two decades from a barren village into a modern urban sprawl dotted with gleaming glass-and-steel skyscrapers, neon-lit malls and luxury apartment complexes, Gurgaon has fallen victim to the perils of rapid, unplanned growth.
Soaring real estate prices, poor infrastructure and a severe water shortage have erased some of its sheen, while the recent labour unrest in the Maruti factory has prompted automobile industrial units here to consider relocation.
No wonder then that Gurgaon is shaken by post-Grand Prix hype about Delhi's northern suburb. "The Noida-Greater Noida belt has the potential to eclipse Gurgaon in three years," says Amitabh Kant, CEO of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor where smart cities and industrial hubs are being set up to boost manufacturing through foreign investment.
"World-class urban development needs a good master plan and superb trunk infrastructure. Greater Noida has both." But Kant adds a caveat. "No city can grow without economic drivers. Noida and Greater Noida have excessive residential development and not enough commercial and industrial hubs. They must concentrate on creating these to attract Japanese and Korean companies looking for investment opportunities in India. If they do, they'll boom."
Gurgaon is streets ahead of the competition in this respect. Its high-value commercial centres continue to draw multinational and Indian companies. And with young managers flocking to work in these companies, it has developed premium spaces for them to work, live and play.
There is then a vibrancy about Gurgaon that is missing in Noida with its aging population of retired bureaucrats and professionals for whom a sedentary life in quiet neighbourhoods surrounded by green golf courses is infinitely preferable to the hustle-bustle of a booming city. Gurgaon is also blessed by a core infrastructure necessity that Noida lacks — an international airport next door.
Mayawati's efforts to get the central government to sanction one for Noida have failed so far, preventing the area from taking off as a hot investment destination in the north. Still, the showcasing of Noida-Greater Noida through the F1 race may spur the demand for an airport and give the area the fillip it needs.
Perhaps the most important takeaway from the F1 experience is the affirmation that governments need not be a roadblock to quality urban development.
In sharp contrast to the experience of other cities, where politics often interferes with urban planning to create messy concrete sprawls, Greater Noida has forged ahead because of an unusual degree of cooperation between the UP government and private developers says Rajiv Talwar, group executive director of DLF, the company that virtually built Gurgaon, "It is a stellar example of a government putting its faith in the private sector and allowing it to function without interference."
The emerging Noida-Gurgaon rivalry has its roots in the vastly different manner in which they have developed and grown. Gurgaon was the result of a private initiative of DLF boss K P Singh, who set about transforming this village on the outskirts of Delhi into an urban jungle of office and residential highrises, shopping malls and multiplexes.
Since it was purely a private enterprise, Gurgaon developed without an urban master plan, which is probably the reason for the civic and other troubles it faces today.
It was Singh who marketed Gurgaon to multinational companies, kicking off the process by inviting his personal friend and General Electric's top boss, Jack Welch, to visit in 1989. GE started its back office operations in India from DLF's Corporate Park in DLF City III.
Soon, a number of business process outsourcing (BPO) offices came up in Gurgaon and transformed it into a hub of BPO services in the country. As the absorption of office space accelerated in Gurgaon, the requirement for residential units also rose.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-11-16/news/30405904_1_greater-noida-gurgaon-industrial-hubs
16 Nov, 2011, 11.54AM IST, TNN
Brand Noida Vs Brand Gurgaon: Where would you put your money in the battle of the burbs?
Gurgaon's zooming real estate prices underline the fact that it has arrived as a leading commercial and residential hub while Noida and Greater Noida continue to lag behind. Commercial space in Gurgaon today fetches a monthly rent of between Rs 120 and Rs 140 per square foot. In Noida, the same space is available for a paltry sum of Rs 35 per square foot.
The same story holds for residential space. Gurgaon's new sectors command a handsome price of Rs 4,000 per sq foot but in Noida, the price is between Rs 2,000 and Rs 2,500 per square foot. But Noida developers are building big for the future. A large number of high-quality commercial and residential projects are being developed on the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway.
A couple of upmarket residential projects are being constructed around 18-hole golf courses, which can rival any similar projects in Gurgaon. A residential project in Greater Noida by Jaypee Greens on 452 acres with an 18-hole golf course at the centre provides a world-class residential option to top corporate honchos. Gurgaon, on the other hand, has only the DLF golf course to boast of.
EAT & SHOP : If you're the kind who needs a 'special' coffee place, eat out every other day or just unwind with a pitcher of freshly brewed wheat beer, then Gurgaon is just the place for you. Whatever else Noida may have on Gurgaon , its Haryana counterpart steals a march when it comes to entertainment and eating-out options. There are over 40 malls spread all over Gurgaon with cinema halls, restaurants and international brands. Compare that with Noida where all the action is centred around Atta Market or Sector 18.
If spending a weekend at the mall isn't your scene, then Gurgaon has plenty of fine-dining restaurants – standalone and in hotels – late-night dhabas, quiet coffee places, a superb bakery or even ahatas where you can take your booze, order some food and sit back while a Jimi Hendrix concert plays on the big screen. Innumerable microbreweries have sprouted in Gurgaon giving beer drinkers reason to cheer. Clubs in Gurgaon remain open till at least till 3am. Even liquor shops are licensed to stay open till 2am and some will even deliver at your doorstep. There is culture, too, with venues like Epicentre hosting some of the best theatre groups in India.
METRO MATTERS: When it comes to Metro rail-based connectivity, Noida scores over Gurgaon. The authorities have collected money from end users and created a huge corpus of around Rs 9,000 crore for extending the existing lines up to Greater Noida. But, there is no similar mechanism available in Gurgaon.
SADAK, BIJLI, PAANI : Gurgaon's swankiness is confined to indoors. The sewage main lines are missing in most localities, especially in the new Gurgaon sectors where sewage is dumped in vacant plots. The Haryana Urban Development Authority has adopted the Greater Noida model in developing sectors, with private companies constructing and maintaining the infrastructure. On the power front, both witness power outages of around 8 to 12 hours during summer. Water is where the east scores since it has more groundwater availability. Future plans for Gurgaon envisage a sufficient quantity of water from the NCR channel. Noida, on the other hand, has plans to provide 100% Ganga water by 2020.
PARK AND RIDE : Cyber City is where the very centre of corporate razzle-dazzle in Gurgaon lies, though you wouldn't have guessed it if you go by the pockmarked and water-logged roads here. In Udyog Vihar, the region's industrial hub, with over 2,000 manufacturing units doing thousands of crores worth of business, there's no sign of a parking facility. Drive through the plushest of residential colonies, Sushant Lok, and marvel at the great heaps of garbage lying uncollected for months. Noida, on the other hand, follows a better approach to town management. The suburb has well laid-out sectors with wide roads, flyovers and under-passes and plenty of local shopping complexes in each sector. The Noida Authority recently announced the allocation of Rs 4,997.65 crore for development projects.
HEALTHCARE: When it comes to education, Gurgaon boasts of bigger names like Sriram and Heritage. But in terms of hospitals, they are about equal. Large facilities like Medanta, Fortis, Artemis and Paras are coming up in Gurgaon. Noida has its share of hospital chains like Fortis, Max Healthcare, Apollo, Metro and Kailash.
BRAND WARS : Driving the Noida story is Mayawati, who has moved beyond her Behenji image, and is burning a lot of rubber to win the race. Team Hooda has the advantage of a pole position. Even if they seem a bit out of form now, maybe, a pit stop is all they need. Perception plays a huge role on track as well as off it. Till recently, Gurgaon was seen as a VIP city. Noida was still a middle-class suburb, notorious for crime.
The future looks great for Greater Noida, while nothing is new about New Gurgaon. Noida, supplied less than onethird the properties as Gurgaon till 2007, now supplies six times more properties than its competitor. It has better connectivity with three expressways and has successfully hosted the F1. But all is not well with Noida. More than 50,000 apartments were put at risk during the Noida Extension land dispute, which is yet to be resolved. If the realty bubble bursts, middle-class investors will be the biggest sufferers. The chequered flag is still out of sight. Which city would you bet on?
(Reporting by Vinay Sarawagi, Ruhi Batra, Vineet Gill, Tanusree Roy Chowdhury & Vandana Keelor)
कहां खरीदें घर: नोएडा या गुड़गांव
18 Nov 2011, 0400 hrs IST
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नोएडा 2007 तक घरों की सप्लाई के मामले में गुड़गांव से काफी पीछे था, लेकिन अब गुड़गांव इस इलाके से मीलों पीछे है। नोएडा इलाका अब गुड़गांव इलाके की तुलना में हर साल छह गुणा ज्यादा घर बन रहे हैं। ………………………… एसीआर में जब कभी घर खरीदने की बात आती है, तो दो ऑटोमेटिक ऑप्शन उभरते हैं: नोएडा और गुड़गांव, लेकिन इसके साथ ही यह सवाल भी उठता है कि आखिर घर खरीदा जाए या इनवेस्टमेंट के लिहाज से भी पैसे लगाए जाएं तो कहां? गुड़गांव हो या नोएडा का इलाका, दोनों की अपनी खासियतें हैं और अपनी-अपनी कमियां। रेट और रिटर्न की बात करें तो गुड़गांव नोएडा से आगे है। गुड़गांव में अपर मिडिल और हाईएंड यूजर्स के हिसाब से प्रोजेक्ट्स हैं तो नोएडा इलाका अफोर्डेबल ऑप्शंस के लिहाज से आज भी पहली पसंद है। लेकिन नोएडा में भी स्थितियां बदल रही हैं। यहां भी एक से बढ़ कर एक बेहतरीन कमर्शल और रेजिडेंशल प्रोजेक्ट नोएडा-ग्रेटर नोएडा एक्सप्रेस-वे पर बनाए जा रहे हैं। ऐसे ही कुछ प्रोजेक्ट 18 होल गोल्फ कोर्स के आसपास डिवेलप हो रहे हैं जो गुड़गांव के मुकाबले किसी मायने में कमतर नहीं हैं। गुड़गांव के डीएलएफ गोल्फ कोर्स की तरह ही ग्रेटर नोएडा में जेपी ग्रींस के 18 होल गोल्फ कोर्स के साथ डिवेलप्ड रेजिडेंशल प्रोजेक्ट्स वर्ल्ड क्लास ऑप्शन मुहैया करा रहे हैं। प्लांड डिवेलपमेंट इंफ्रास्ट्रक्चर और प्लांड डिवेलपमेंट के मामले में नोएडा गुड़गांव से भले ही आगे है, लेकिन शॉपिंग, एंटरटेनमेंट, एजुकेशन और होटल्स के मामले में गुड़गांव में फिलहाल नोएडा से ज्यादा सुविधाएं हैं। वहीं नोएडा इलाका क्नेक्टिविटी के मामले में गुड़गांव से बेहतर है। यहां तीन एक्सप्रेस-वे बने हैं। यहां रह कर दिल्ली से लेकर आगरा तक में काम किया जा सकता है। एफ-1 रेसिंग मुकाबले के बाद इलाके की दुनिया में अलग पहचान बनी है। ऑप्शंस रेजिडेंशल ऑप्शंस की बात करें तो यह इलाका 2007 तक घरों की सप्लाई के मामले में गुड़गांव से काफी पीछे था। लेकिन अब गुड़गांव इस इलाके से मीलों पीछे है। नोएडा इलाका अब गुड़गांव इलाके की तुलना में हर साल छह गुणा ज्यादा घर बन रहे हैं। हल्थकेयर के मामले में दोनों इलाकों में बेहतरीन ऑप्शन उपलब्ध हैं। गुड़गांव में पारस , मेदांता , फोरटिस , एरटेमिस जैसे नाम हैं तो नोएडा में फोरटिस , मैक्स हेल्थकेयर , अपोलो मेट्रो और कैलाश हॉस्पिटल आदि की सेवाएं मिल रही हैं। इमेज की बात करें तो गुड़गांव की इमेज अब तक वीआईपी इलाके के रूप में रही , वहीं नोएडा को मिडिल क्लास सबअरबन इलाके के रूप में देखा गया। हालांकि क्राइम के मामले में दोनों इलाकों में ज्यादा अंतर नहीं रहा है। मेट्रो सर्विस मेट्रो की बात की जाए तो आने वाले समय में नोएडा में गुड़गांव की तुलना में मेट्रो की सुविधा गुड़गांव से बेहतर होगी। गुड़गांव और नोएडा , दोनों जगहों पर फिलहाल मेट्रो सिटी सेंटर तक है। लेकिन नोएडा अथॉरिटी ने 9000 करोड़ रुपये का फंड जमा किया है मेट्रो के विस्तार के लिए। यहां मेट्रो लाइन को ग्रेटर नोएडा तक ले जाने की तैयारी है। लेकिन गुड़गांव में फिलहाल ऐसा तैयारी नहीं है। शुभ लाभ रियल्टी वॉच कमर्शल – गुड़गांव में किराया 120 से 140 रुपए प्रति वर्ग फुट प्रति माह – नोएडा में करीब 35 रुपये प्रति फुट की दर से स्पेस उपलब्ध रेजिडेंशल – न्यू गुड़गांव के सेक्टरों में कीमत 4,000 रुपये प्रति वर्ग फुट – नोएडा इलाके में 2000 से 2,500 रुपये प्रति वर्ग फुट का रेट क्राइम पट्रोल दोनों इलाकों में ज्यादा अंतर नहीं बिजली , पानी , सीवर – नोएडा में 2020 तक 100 फीसदी गंगाजल सप्लाई करने की योजना – गुड़गांव में एनसीआर चैनलों से सप्लाई बढ़ाने की तैयारी – न्यू गुड़गांव के अधिकतर इलाकों में सीवेज मेन लाइन नहीं – ग्रेटर नोएडा की तरह हरियाणा अरबन डिवेलपमेंट अथॉरिटी ने भी कुछ इलाकों में इंफ्राास्ट्रक्चर मेनटेनेंस के लिए प्राइवेट फर्मों को साथ लिया है – ग्राउंडवॉटर के मामले में नोएडा की स्थिति गुड़गांव से बेहतर – गर्मी के दिनों में दोनों इलाकों में 8 से 12 घंटे बिजली की समस्या इंफ्रास्ट्रक्चर गुड़गांव – कॉरपोरेट्स की पसंद इस साइबर सिटी में रोडों की हालत खस्ता – उद्योग विहार जैसे इंडस्ट्रीयल इलाके में पार्किंग की सुविधा तक नहीं – रेजिडेंशल कॉलोनियों में कचरे की समस्या नोएडा – बेहतर प्लानिंग के साथ बसाए गए सेक्टर , चौड़ी सड़कें , फ्लाईओवर और अंडर पास की सुविधा – सभी सेक्टरों में लोकल शॉपिंग कॉम्प्लेक्स की सुविधा – इंफ्रास्ट्रक्चर डिवेलपमेंट के लिए भारी फंडिंग इट , प्ले , वॉच – खानेपीने और मनोरंजन की बात आती है तो गुड़गांव नोएडा से आगे गुड़गांव में 40 से च्यादा मॉल्स हैं। इनमें सिनेमा , रेस्तरां और इंटरनैशनल ब्रांड्स की भरमार है। – नोएडा में ऑप्शंस सीमित हैं। यहां जो कुछ भी है , अट्टा मार्केट या सेक्टर -18 के आसपास सीमित है। हेल्थ एंड एजुकेशन – गुड़गांव में नोएडा की तुलना में बड़े नाम , बड़े इंस्टीट्यूट्स – टेक्निकल इंस्टीट्यूट्स की संख्या में मामले में नोएडा इलाका गुड़गांव से आगे – हॉस्पिटल के मामले में दोनों इलाके करीब – करीब बराबर होटल – एयरपोर्ट के नजदीक होने के कारण गुड़गांव में फॉश होल्स की नहीं कोई कमी नोएडा इस मामले में पीछ। गुड़गांव के हाथ मिलाने की तैयारी। नोएडा अथॉरिटी ने फाइव स्टार होटलों के लिए 10 प्लॉटों की नीलामी की है। ब्रांड वॉर – नोएडा , ग्रेटर नोएडा पर यूपी का फोकस तो गुड़गांव , न्यू गुड़गांव पर हरियाणा का। |
http://navbharattimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/10770316.cms
EXPRESS ESTATES
It’s boom time for Delhi NCR
Kumar Bharat
Posted: Saturday, Nov 12, 2011 at 0242 hrs IST
: The national capital Delhi has become a hub of action for north India due to greater economic activity and the resulting migration. The real estate market in Delhi and NCR has shown remarkable growth after the recovery from the 2008-09 economic slowdown. With greater investment coming to the NCR, both office and retail space has seen heavy development especially in Delhi with its position of being the political hub of the country. Consequently with rising population influx the demand on the residential front has been ever increasing as well. The NCR residential market has risen up to these demands, with a great many projects coming up with majority of which is expected to become ready for possession in a two to three year time frame. The NCR market has registered over 1 lakh newly launched apartment units into the market last year itself. The key targets for these projects have been the mid income groups in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab who wish to own their own abode and be part of the metropolis. Let’s take a look at the major centers that have shown grown the housing sector this year.
GURGAON
Gurgaon region has risen in the price ladder the most. In Gurgaon the starting price of a basic two bedroom flat today is about Rs 90 lakh. Most people who prefer Gurgaon for their residence are those who already been staying in Delhi, mostly south Delhi region and working in Gurgaon. So they would cut time and cost in travel to their work places if they are staying nearby. But there have been a slight fall in this preference as Gurgaon after its initial development has become stagnant and in many areas people have experienced power cuts and water shortages. Apart from that local commute in Gurgaon is a hassle too.
NOIDA
This has led to Noida and its outskirts to come to the forefront. Noida has an advantage as it has good infrastructure and easy local commute and has become a sought after destination for housing with many companies setting up shop here. The projects here are targeted at middle and lower middle income segments due to their price positioning with base price in Noida starting from about Rs 40 lakh. For people from nearby cities of UP like Agra and Bulandshahr, Noida is the preferred destination to get close to the national capital. Although the recent land acquisition controversy in Noida Expressway and Greater Noida has effected this growth of Noida too with people becoming reluctant to invest in new projects.
GHAZIABAD
This has only allowed the focus to be shifted of investors to more ‘safer regions’ and one of the key beneficiaries has been Ghaziabad and Raj Nagar Extension due to its better land acquiring models. People who have been living in unorganized colonies in these areas now want to shift to more organized societies. Along with them people from cities Merut, Murad Nagar, Moradabad too are preferring Ghaziabad to be the destination to be in NCR. One key factor for the attraction of this area has been the low pricing strategies of the developers here with starting prices being around Rs 25 lakh. But as an investor and developer one must be careful and not get caught up in this pricing war. Some of the developers who are promising flats at lower than Rs 2,000 per sq feet, which as soon as they start with their construction will find to be an impractical pricing. If we take just the basic construction price it will be practically around Rs 1,400-1,500 per sq feet. If we add other additional costs like the cost of land, raw material and labour costs. finishing, promotions, marketing and other miscellaneous costs the overall per sq feet pricing is bound to go higher than Rs 2,000 per sq feet.
Overall if we see the scenario, the growth in the real estate market especially in Delhi and NCR region is here to stay. The ever increasing population and housing being a necessity the demand will keep on rising and the supply has to meet it. With government policy support, inflow of greater investments, the real estate market is poised for growth. l
—The author is director, BCC Infrastructure
http://www.financialexpress.com/story.php?id=874682
F1 powers Noida as Gurgaon hits a jam
Arati R Jerath and Prabhakar Sinha, TNN | Nov 16, 2011, 09.47AM IST
NOIDA: The unveiling of the stateof-the-art Formula One racing track in Greater Noida and the world-class Yamuna Expressway leading up to it have sent a frisson of concern coursing through Gurgaon on Delhi's southern border.
Suddenly, there's a buzz about the poor cousin from the east side. Almost overnight, the badlands of Mayawati Pradesh have transformed into a Shanghai miracle with a scale and quality of construction not seen before in India. And it's threatening to put swanky Gurgaon in the shade.
Touted as India's Millennium City, after its metamorphosis over the last two decades from a barren village into a modern urban sprawl dotted with gleaming glass-and-steel skyscrapers, neon-lit malls and luxury apartment complexes, Gurgaon has fallen victim to the perils of rapid, unplanned growth. Soaring real estate prices, poor infrastructure and a severe water shortage have erased some of its sheen, while the recent labour unrest in the Maruti factory has prompted automobile industrial units here to consider relocation.
No wonder then that Gurgaon is shaken by post-Grand Prix hype about Delhi's northern suburb. "The Noida-Greater Noida belt has the potential to eclipse Gurgaon in three years," says Amitabh Kant, CEO of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor where smart cities and industrial hubs are being set up to boost manufacturing through foreign investment. "World-class urban development needs a good master plan and superb trunk infrastructure. Greater Noida has both."
But Kant adds a caveat. "No city can grow without economic drivers. Noida and Greater Noida have excessive residential development and not enough commercial and industrial hubs. They must concentrate on creating these to attract Japanese and Korean companies looking for investment opportunities in India. If they do, they'll boom."
Gurgaon is streets ahead of the competition in this respect. Its high-value commercial centres continue to draw multinational and Indian companies. And with young managers flocking to work in these companies, it has developed premium spaces for them to work, live and play. There is then a vibrancy about Gurgaon that is missing in Noida with its aging population of retired bureaucrats and professionals for whom a sedentary life in quiet neighbourhoods surrounded by green golf courses is infinitely preferable to the hustle-bustle of a booming city.
Gurgaon is also blessed by a core infrastructure necessity that Noida lacks – an international airport next door. Mayawati's efforts to get the central government to sanction one for Noida have failed so far, preventing the area from taking off as a hot investment destination in the north. Still, the showcasing of Noida-Greater Noida through the F1 race may spur the demand for an airport and give the area the fillip it needs.
Perhaps the most important takeaway from the F1 experience is the affirmation that governments need not be a roadblock to quality urban development. In sharp contrast to the experience of other cities, where politics often interferes with urban planning to create messy concrete sprawls, Greater Noida has forged ahead because of an unusual degree of cooperation between the UP government and private developers . Says Rajiv Talwar, group executive director of DLF, the company that virtually built Gurgaon, "It is a stellar example of a government putting its faith in the private sector and allowing it to function without interference."
The emerging Noida-Gurgaon rivalry has its roots in the vastly different manner in which they have developed and grown. Gurgaon was the result of a private initiative of DLF boss K P Singh, who set about transforming this village on the outskirts of Delhi into an urban jungle of office and residential highrises, shopping malls and multiplexes. Since it was purely a private enterprise, Gurgaon developed without an urban master plan, which is probably the reason for the civic and other troubles it faces today.
It was Singh who marketed Gurgaon to multinational companies, kicking off the process by inviting his personal friend and General Electric's top boss, Jack Welch, to visit in 1989. GE started its back office operations in India from DLF's Corporate Park in DLF City III. Soon, a number of business process outsourcing (BPO) offices came up in Gurgaon and transformed it into a hub of BPO services in the country. As the absorption of office space accelerated in Gurgaon, the requirement for residential units also rose.
Unfortunately, the development in Gurgaon did not keep pace with the infrastructure requirements. Private developers took on the responsibility of creating internal infrastructure. But external infrastructure like connecting roads, water supply from reservoirs, sewage disposal systems and drainage were left to the state government, which failed miserably on this score. Today, Gurgaon faces problems of poor road connectivity and inadequate water and electricity supply, issues that the Haryana government has now woken up to address. Kant calls it "retro-fitting" , something that is difficult to execute when buildings have come up in a haphazard manner.
Noida, on the other hand, was set up under an Uttar Pradesh government act, the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority Act of 1976. Kant points out, "Its development was helped by some good administrators who drew up a master plan and set about implementing it. These civil servants planned for the creation of superior trunk infrastructure and they were allowed to function with relatively little political interference from the state government."
Here, the authorities acquired the land from farmers and after developing external infrastructure like connecting roads, electricity supply, water supply and sewage disposal system, parcelled it out to private developers. With Mayawati taking a personal interest in developing the area (she hails from Badalpur which is in Greater Noida), the government has ensured that the projects are completed on time and measure up to international standards.
Today, while the road to Gurgaon is a nightmare of traffic jams, the connectivity from Delhi to Greater Noida is an amazing ride. The driving time from south and central Delhi to areas along the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway is around 30 minutes. The driving time to the Sports City on Yamuna Expressway, being developed by Jaypee on 5,000 acres of land is another half an hour.
Gurgaon has had a headstart. The Noida belt, therefore, has a lot of catching up to do, despite the ongoing frenzied construction activity in the area. A senior officer in the Noida authority said that a certain number of companies will have to shift to create a critical mass before the Noida-Greater Noida region can outshine Gurgaon. Till then, Noida will have to rest on its F1 laurels.
Extracts from a special report that appeared in the TOI-Crest Edition dated November 5
NOIDA
Population | Over 16 lakh literacy 82.20% Sex ratio 852/1,000 Population density 2,463 per sq km Employment growth 14% Per capita income Rs 85,519 per annum
GURGAON
Population | Over 20 lakh literacy 84.44% Sex ratio 853/1,000 Population density 1,241 per sq km Employment growth 11% Per capita income Rs 1,22,212 per annum
SPEED FACTS
NOIDA
77% of houses have electricity Highest number of per capita seats for MBA and engineering Within NCR, city's share of housing is over 50% DND toll bridge was India's first BoT bridge project
GURGAON
Presence of nearly 300 of Fortune 500 firms Generates more than half of Haryana's tax revenues Has 43 malls, 3rd highest after Mumbai, Delhi 137 new cars being bought here every day
Formula 1 impact: Noida races past Gurgaon
Ravi Teja Sharma, ET Bureau Nov 4, 2011, 01.08pm IST
The stars have long departed after India's first F1 race last weekend, but the stardust they have left behind is lending glitter to Delhi's satellite cities of Noida and Greater Noida. Long plagued by perceptions of crime and sloth and often the subject of unflattering comparisons with rival satellite city, Gurgaon, which over the past decade became the destination of choice in the National Capital Region for multinational corporations to set up their Indian headquarters, Noida and its sister city Greater Noida seem to have got a major image makeover – and over a single weekend.
Images of some of the most photographed faces on the planet – celebrity race drivers, movie stars and starlets, business tycoons and politicians – rubbing shoulders against the backdrop of a glitzy racetrack off a gleaming yet-to-be-opened expressway appears to have done the trick. The successful execution of the three-day F1 jamboree from October 28-30 at Greater Noida did not just introduce the contest of the racing cars to the country; it also showcased impressive infrastructure development so close to the national capital.
"F1 has drawn attention to the infrastructure in Noida and Greater Noida," says Anshuman Magazine, chairman and managing director (South Asia) of real estate consultancy firm CB Richard Ellis. "Its impact may not be immediate, but in the medium to long term, we should see a lot of companies wanting to come here."
The smooth access to the venue through Noida, the newly laid track in the proposed Jaypee Sports City and the upcoming 165-km access-controlled Yamuna Expressway, which will cut travel time to Agra by about two hours, provided glimpses into a developing destination where space is still available.
It helped that the convergence of speed and entertainment, big business and international glamour at the event ensured rare upbeat news from India's most populous state that is going to the polls early next year. Speedier access to the city of Taj Mahal, besides proximity to Delhi, is causing a virtual stampede of hotel chains into the area. About 18 new hotels with 4,200 rooms between them are coming up, most of them along a single road, according to real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield.
This will be a dramatic shift from the current figures of four hotels with 300 rooms in all. St Regis, Grand Hyatt, Radisson, Fairfield Inn, Movenpick, Marriott and Ritz Carlson are some of the brands that will adorn the 25-km Noida-Greater Noida expressway. Barclays, Samsung Electronics, Intel and Oracle have set up offices in Noida in the recent past, says Shakti Nath, managing director of Logix Group, a real estate developer.
"A number of our investors and FDI partners were here for F1 and have gone back with a positive mindset about making further investments in the Noida-Greater Noida region," he says. Manoj Gaur of the Jaypee Group, which brought the F1 race into India, built the racetrack in Greater Noida and ensured its successful execution, is more ebullient about the city's prospects.
"In the next five years, you will see 10 times of what you have seen in the last five years in Greater Noida," says Gaur, whose firm is one of the biggest landowners in the area. The change in the tone of the discourse is particularly startling because it was only this year that both Noida and Greater Noida were in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Greater Noida made national headlines earlier this year for allegations of police brutality in suppressing farmers agitating against land acquisition in villages just a few kilometres away. More recently, the nearby area of Noida extension was in the news after courts struck down the government's land acquisition. But the afterglow of a successful FI race has helped mute some of the criticism.
"With the world's crème de la crème present, the F1 event was an opportunity for Noida to put up its best show and get over the negative publicity on land acquisition in the recent past," says Anckur Srivasttava, chairman of GenReal Property Advisers, a property consulting firm. When India opened its gates to foreign investors two decades ago, the nondescript industrial township, Noida (New Okhla Industrial Development Area), in Delhi's backyard became home to Honda, Samsung, Daewoo, LG and Timex, among other global brands.
Noida's rise also gave birth to its extension, Greater Noida, which was hailed as India's first world city. An expressway connecting Noida with Greater Noida was expected to draw in more foreign investors along the corridor.
But even before it was completed, the slide began. Political turbulence and poor governance took their toll on the region along with the rest of the state, with Greater Noida subjected to frequent change of administrative heads, reflecting the sorry state of affairs.
While the Noida-Greater Noida region accounted for 80%-90% of the Rs 68,000 crore total industrial investments in the state between 1991 and 1998. Investments in the entire state dried up to Rs 12,000 crore over the next six years.
"Over the years, this booming town lost out due to corruption, crime, politics, poor administration and poorer land acquisition policies," says Rajeev Karwal, who was instrumental in helping Korea's LG Electronics setting up its factory in Greater Noida in the late 1990s. Commercial real estate activity in the region has rallied around the services sector – IT and BPO – over the past decade, as no new major manufacturing unit has come up.
Companies like HCL, Adobe, CSC, GlobalLogic and EXL have multiple campuses here. Residential complexes have mushroomed as real estate firms acquired farmland at dirt-cheap prices. Nearly three lakh homes are being built in Noida and Greater Noida, which is expected to double the population of the area in the next three-four years.
Chief Minister Mayawati, at the start of her current term in 2007, revived her plan to build an international airport hub in Greater Noida. The centre's clearances are, however, still pending for the proposal that could have fast-tracked development in the entire region. Yet, the incremental growth, capped by the F1 race, has made investors sit up and take notice. "The F1 race would definitely help strengthen the image of UP as an investor-friendly state and attract international attention," says VN Garg, principal secretary, industry and infrastructure development, Uttar Pradesh government.
Executives at companies that had set up manufacturing plants in Noida in the 1990s, like Samsung, say infrastructure has improved in the area, as have problems related to law and order. "A successful F1 is certainly a big reassurance," says Elkana Ezekiel, chief marketing officer at Samsung India, which has invested close to $325 million in its Noida facility, including a latest investment of $70 million in its mobile phone facility.
"The new infrastructure should give a big boost to economic activity in the region," says RK Sharma, senior vicepresident and director, Honda Siel Cars India, which has invested over Rs 1,600 crore in its car plant in Greater Noida. Gurgaon, Delhi's most successful satellite town, as Shakti Nath of Logix Group points out, was developed by private companies like DLF and Ansals which created good buildings and homes but neglected infrastructure.
While the beginning was good, infrastructure in Gurgaon has started to crumble, while Noida has begun to close the gap. And it also helped that its long-time rival Gurgaon was in the news around the same time as the FI race for all the wrong reasons – a concert by American heavy metal band Metallica had to be cancelled amid crowd trouble. The old comparison with Gurgaon, which is much further ahead on the development highway, may not hurt Noida as much now.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-11-04/news/30359608_1_greater-noida-f1-real-estate