In February this year, the Punjab Government made an announcement of land allotments to Information Technology (IT) companies in the Information and Knowledge City in Mohali. This announcement boosted the real estate sector which was still reeling from the slowing down of the economy. It is expected that the news of the new IT City will revive the market and end the drought which it was undergoing.
Though maps continue to call the city Mohali, this city was renamed Ajitgarh in 2012 after Sahibzada Ajit Singh, the eldest son of Guru Gobind Singh. To the uninitiated the city is also referred to as SAS (Sahibzada Ajit Singh) Nagar. The metropolitan area of Chandigarh, Ajitgarh and Panchkula together form the Chandigarh Tricity.
Mohali was originally developed to take the housing strain off Chandigarh but now it stands as a city by itself. It has been projected as the upcoming IT destination in Punjab.
Mohali lies to the south west of Chandigarh and is better known to the rest of India for its cricket stadium. Today all that has changed. Mohali is a favored real estate destination with its Grade A office space, retail space, townships and entertainment amenities. Many of the national level builders, such as DLF, Uppal, Omaxe, Parsvanth, TDI and Ansals are developing properties in Mohali.
Realtors feel that since Chandigarh has reached its saturation point, the move towards properties in Mohali is only logical. Many feel that the developments taking place in Mohali by way of roads, transportation and the new developed townships will augur well for the real estate sector.
The developments which will add value to properties in Mohali include a golf course, the metro rail connectivity between the Secretariat and Aerocity, the City Centre and the Habitat Centre.
Road connectivity to Delhi and other cities has greatly improved. In addition to that the airport under construction in Mohali is proposed to operate international flights.
The proposed Information and Knowledge City will come up on the 1500 acres adjoining Aerocity. While 40% of the acquired land will be used for the IT industry, 35% will be set aside for residential purposes and the remaining 25% will be for commercial purposes.
The IT city is likely to be located in Sector 82A, 83A and 101A; so grade A office space for the IT companies will be located here. To this end the 662.80 acres have been acquired. One of the first companies to start at the Knowledge Park has been IT major Infosys. In February the company inaugurated a 50-acre campus. The investment in the first phase for Infosys will be INR 424 crore for a 6.5 lakh sq ft of built- up space to house 5000 people.
According to reports, residential properties in Mohali are available in many of the sectors but there have been fewer takers for these plots because of the economic situation. Most realtors feel that once the IT companies start functioning and the employees start arriving, there will be demand for the apartments for sale in Mohali.
Once the market improves, realtors hope that home buyers from Jalandhar and Ludhiana will start looking for properties in Mohali to invest in. It is anticipated that the target group is likely to be those employed in the IT industry in the Special Economic Zone in Mohali.
In view of the anticipated increase in demand for residential space, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) has launched many new schemes for housing. In many of the new sectors, the GMADA has planned to phase out independent plots in favour of multi-storied residential towers.
The government has plans to develop 6000 units in multi-storied apartments, spread over 100 acres. The plans are to develop 100 towers with 15 floors each. According to reports, the apartments will be priced between INR 40 lakh and INR 70 lakh.
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Nina Varghese for IndiaProperty.com