Vikas Rikhye, Real Estate Promoter and Blogger

In the recent past the Fast Growing Township of New Gurgaon has witnessed a
Massive growth in housing sector.

The well established real estate companies like DLF & Unitech have launched and delivered prestigious residential project. Comparatively new entrants like Bestech,Omaxe, Parsavnath Raheja & others got an opportunity to prove their competence.

All this as stated above “Township of New Gurgaon” came in to a light as a very
strong investment destination.

As it would have resulted, the investment wave in Gurgaon ,became stronger and stronger and the Secondary market shot up sky high. With all this , the basic participants in real estate game like Builders, Brokers & Investors found themselves in a Win - Win situation.

Yet there was another Important Segment of Actual-User, who had missed the boat due to unexpected increase in Real estate prices, was still awaiting an affordable housing solution.

The announcement of Master Plan 2021, gave a sigh of relief to this Important Segment of Actual-Users .But at same time it gave opportunity to many New Player to enter the real estate Game.

And now an interesting/ uninteresting era starts:

As many of The new Players started advertising launch of their new projects with luring advertisements & Broker incentives.

It has been observed by many real - estate experts that some of the projects falling in Master Plan 2021 are being launched ,where at present the basic infrastructure like roads, water, sever, provision for required Power etc. is missing.

While some of the Promoters are asking for 25% of the amount within in 45 days of booking & balance is construction linked . Even we feel every thing in fairness, yet, it raises following queries in mind:
• What is the reliability level of “Unheard of as Builders”
• Transparency level of commitments.
• Experience for delivering committed project .( for those who have not delivered any Project in the past )
• Inventor’s Risk coverage.

For a while let us be Optimist that in all the fairness the project is delivered , Yet another question mark nags the mind that will there be basic infrastructure like roads, water, sever, provision for required Power etc. where presently nothing is visible on the ground except open fields & in some cases abandoned uneven patches of land.

Will somebody guide me to clear my doubt as well of others who agree with as stated above.

Vikas Rikhye,Real Estate Blogger

This time we are not taking about Sky high real estate prices or inflation in Gurgaon ,but sky high forthcoming buildings in Gurgaon.It is understood from authentic sources that Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) has removed height restriction for all future group housing & Commercial projects in the new sectors that are a part of Gurgaon Master Plan 2021.

According to the sources, the height limit till now was 90 meters. However, the Builders/ Developer aspiring for skyscrapers will have to take permission from other competent authorities like Airport Authority of India, Fire Authorities and other government bodies, governing Safety Rules.

It is further understood from the sources that this policy has been framed , keeping in mind the National Building Code (Part-4) that allows the removal of height restrictions on the buildings if the modern / latest technologies are used for structural design & fire fighting.

The news seems to be very encouraging & interesting, but, it raises in mind, a big Question Mark, that:
Will the present infrastructure in Gurgaon , be able to take the load of this Unexpected growth ?

Vikas Rikhye,India Real Estate Blogger

Gurgaon is a city that is rapidly moving towards Globalized economy, but it the city requires, an effective planning for improvement in basic infrastructure to truly transform into be “world-class city” in coming years.An effective Transport system is the base for any infrastructure development.

Although eight lane toll expressway between Gurgaon and New Delhi, that provides non-stop connectivity to the I.G.I and the Domestic Airport and to Dhaulakuan in Delhi over a distance of 28 kilometers (18 miles), and includes 7 flyovers and 5 underpasses along the stretch, has made a remarkable comfort level to the commuters, still for main city of Gurgaon , a well planned efficient surface transport planning seems to be the basic need of the day.

While the road layout in the city is quite well-planned, but a drives to improve the condition of roads is very badly required.

Besides roads, the main problem of the city is its virtually non-existent city public transport. A handful of local buses plying on a few routes & besides cycle rickshaw the only other form of public transport is shared auto- rickshaw which are generally overcrowded.

Mainly Taxi service in Gurgaon is limited to Airport/Railway Station dropping/ picking. Besides taxis for the use of the ever growing call center and information technology industry. Gurgaon currently has 5 types of taxis. Normal Black top yellows taxis, auto rickshaw(the cheapest form of taxis in Gurgaon), tourist taxis, radio taxis and white taxis.

Generally, people in Gurgaon prefer cars to two-wheelers because of the dusty nature of the region, extreme weather condition, and frequent two-wheeler accidents. Most of the people in new township, own cars as the cream of the delhites have moved to Gurgaon. But an average white collar job person is desperately looking forward to improved means of transport system.

There seems to be only ray of hope when “Delhi Metro Rail Corporation” starts its operation to Gurgaon as expected by January 2010.

To be continued…

Vikas Rikhye,India Real Estate Blogger

Gurgaon ! privileged status of “Cyber City” battling a power crisis that has seen power cuts over 12 hours , there is no immediate relief in sight.

Most of the people who moved to Gurgaon for a better quality of life, they , now feel cheated & cursing the day they moved to Gurgaon.

The life becomes miserable, when the whole town plunges into darkness in peak of summer, as one has to surrender to the invertors and then to generators, an expensive proposition besides being unfriendly to the environment.

Students in the city are invariably the biggest sufferers. Long hours of power cut and exhausted inverters have made their lives harder.

A common man is in total confused state of mind as the electricity “Complaint telephones “are usually un-attended or give a busy tone. Personal complaints lead to no results, With repeated assurances of officials, consumers have learnt the hard way not to trust officials.

Tired of long & frequent power cuts and false promises of improvement, created almost a situation of riots in the city as News Headlines of Hindustan Times dated May 7th 2008 read as “Power riots erupt in city, Gurgaon” it further added “People stone power offices”

Is that the “Millennium City” we dreamt of ?

Mr. Vikas Rikhye,Realtor,Real Estate Blogger and Real Estate Promoter

Despite the fact that countries like U.A.E (Dubai) Australia, New Zealand & others are making best of their efforts to attract foreign investors to invest in real estate sector but the fact remains that US. China & India are the preferred ones’

According to a survey conducted by Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE), amongst the global investors, US has retained its top position, while China ranked 2nd followed by India ranking 3rd.

It is understood that in the current survey China moved to second place with 21.4%votes & India was preferred by only 16.7%, whereas in 2006, China got 14.6% votes while India had 18% and was ranked in the second position.

The investors confidence seems stronger in China, apparently because of better appreciation chances offered as compared to opportunities in India.

On the other hand, the US, whose economy continues facing the threat of a recession, still managed to retain the ‘most preferred destination´ tag for real estate investment.

Since now India is growing ahead with overall progress in real estate & infrastructure ,we, therefore look forward to its ranking as No-1