Anil Pharande, Chairman - Pharande
Spaces
Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal
Corporation (PCMC) is internationally known and acclaimed for its progressive
and sustainable approach to real estate development. The model of urbanization
that PCMC follows is known as ‘planned development’, which means that real
estate is developed according to a Master Plan. Today, the real estate sector
in PCMC is renowned for its New Age residential configurations such as
integrated townships, which have become the most preferred option among home
buyers. While Pune also has a thriving real estate market, it cannot compare to
what is happening in PCMC because the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) does not
follow a planned approach to real estate development.
In fact, Pune is very likely to
become a smaller version of Mumbai over the next decade. This is because
infrastructure in both these cities is only addressed retropsectively, and not
not proactively like in the PCMC. Because of the planned urbanization happening
here, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation is already being seen as the
City of the Future.
PCMC By 2025
Over the next decade, PCMC will have
reached its fullest potential. Obviously, it will look very different from what
we see today. It will have grown into a harmonious montage of large industrial
units, IT Parks, hotels, shopping and entertainment plazas, educational
institutes and healthcare facilities – all against a backdrop of massive public
parks and gardens, and crisscrossed with multi-lane roads and flyovers.
At least another 25,000 acres of land
will have been added to the PCMC jurisdiction by 2025, and this will eventually
result in the addition of at least 2 million new homes. These homes will cater
to every social stratum of property buyers, from the lower to the high-income
segments.
HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL EXPANSION –
CREATING A SPECTACULAR SKYLINE
There will be tremendous – yet
controlled – horizontal real estate growth in Pimpri Chinchwad over the next
decade. Most spaces allocated for residential use will have been utilized for
that purpose. But this will not result in an urban jungle, since the PCMC
planning blueprint will enforce the maintenance of vast green spaces at all
stages of development.
By 2025, almost all residential areas
in PCMC will have become self-sufficient real estate developments. The PCNTDA
(Pimpri Chinchwad New Town Development Authority) has charted a regulated,
progressive and environment-friendly course for real estate development in
PCMC, and I expect that integrated townships will have become the default configuration.
In fact, the addition of 25,000 acres
will not suffice for this region’s real estate development over the next
decade. This is because the PCMC will have to accommodate a massive demand for
housing. The population growth in PCMC over the last 25 years has been almost
ten-fold (from 200,000 to 2 million), and it will cross 50 lakhs (5 million) by
2035.
On the one hand, there will be a huge
requirement for homes from the rapidly growing manufacturing sectors of
Pimpri-Chinchwad and the Chakan-Talegaon belt. Chakan itself, though a
burgeoning industrial hub, has little to offer by ways of residential
facilities. Areas like Moshi, Ravet and Punavale, which are booming today, will
have become fully developed and will cater to most of the housing demand.
There will also be massive spill-over
demand from Pune City, which will have reached complete saturation point in the
next 10-15 years. At the same time, one must also factor in the ever-increasing
migrant population from all over the country, attracted as much by PCMC's
excellent education institutions as by the varied career opportunities.
This means that PCMC will also grow
vertically over the next ten years. More land will have to come within the
purview of planned development, and building heights will need to increase from
the currently permitted 70 metres – approximately 22 floors plus parking – to
100 metres or more. FSI, which still currently stagnates at 1, will need to be
raised to at least 2, or even 2.5.
This means that over the next decade
and a half, PCMC will be a skyscraper city on the lines of Gurgaon.
WORLD-CLASS INFRASTRUCTURE
In most cities, such growth would
mean serious infrastructure challenges. We have already seen what happens in a
city like Mumbai, where skyscrapers are being built without sufficient parking,
connectivity and municipal amenities to support them. However, thanks to the
master plan that PCMC will always adhere to, the necessary infrastructure will
precede the building of high-rises. I firmly believe that in the next 20 years,
the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation will serve as a national and even
international benchmark for planned, scientific vertical real estate growth.
An essential prerequisite to support
this massive growth is an advanced public transport system. With an eye on this
future requirement, PCMC has adopted a model similar to Ahmedabad’s Janmarg – a
scientifically designed BRT-based public transport system spanning 130 km
across 14 routes in PCMC. This system involves 4-lane wide, exclusive roads
with grade separators that will reduce the dependence on private transport in
favour of more efficient public transport.
This, in turn, will result in smooth
traffic flow, less road blocks, radically lower pollution levels and a
healthier, energy-conserving environment. To ensure that there are no hitches
in the development of this lifeline, the PCMC has established an Urban
Transport Fund for its funding.
Another requirement for efficient
transport is more connecting roadways. A Ring Road is already on the drawing
boards, which will create a hub-and-spoke road network, which will help sustain
the enormous increase in vehicular traffic that industrial and residential
growth will generate.
However, the Ring Road alone may not
suffice to cater to the public transport needs that will emerge over the next
two decades. I personally feel that an elevated skybus or monorail network or
even an underground rail network will be called for.
INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE -THE
ULTIMATE GAME-CHANGER
I must also mention the new
200-acre International Convention Centre at Moshi, which will be fully developed
and operational by 2025. By this time, the Convention Centre will be attracting
a massive amount of tourism, hospitality and retail development, which will
turn PCMC into India's most thriving urban destination. Global hotel chains
will have redefined the hospitality sector, and the shopping centres will be
populated by marquee retail brands.
In fact, the next decade will see
PCMC being catapulted into the international Big League, giving it a distinct
global identity in its own right.
