NCR poses potential despite challenges

Prashant Solomon, Managing Director, Chintels India Ltd, Hon. Treasurer, CREDAI NCR & Convenor CREDAI National (Media and PR Committee) expressed his views on National capital Region (NCR) development, new policies & regulations and his company’s growth strategy. The real-estate is the most sensitive of sectors to any new policies announced by the government for industries or individuals. Goods & Services Tax (GST) has given the much needed thrust and benefit to the manufacturing segment though some clarities are still needed in terms of real-estate.  Additionally, reduction in home loan interest rates will give a boost to end-user home buying thereby propelling the realty markets across India. Affordable housing getting infrastructure status has been the most positive development which may pull the real-estate sector out of its worst slump. It will also give developers easier access to institutional funding, leading to consolidation in the sector. There should also be provision for allocated affordable real-estate zones with tax rebates for builders investing in such projects. In my opinion, REITs should expand in to the residential sector as well so that developers can get the much needed funding for projects. RERA is definitely a step in the right direction of bringing transparency in the realty sector. But, the large number of compliances & information now required from the developers has slowed down the real-estate business. In Haryana lack of RERA website has created problems for developers in getting RERA registration and without that they are unable to sell their projects. The other obstacles facing the sector are expensive funding that is also hard to get and lack of infrastructure development. Also, most of the developers are still using traditional methods of construction and management. We need to adopt modern systems and approach towards buildings and development Ease of doing business, single window clearances and faster approvals are the much pending demands of the real-estate stake holders. Gurugram and the Dwarka Expressway Dwarka e-way, the 24-km long 8-laned expressway awaiting completion since 2012, seems to have crossed the final hurdle with the central government acquiring the 22 hectares of land that had stalled the completion of the roadway. This is good news for the area as developers who have invested over Rs 60,000 crore in residential and commercial projects along the 150-metre-wide roadway, but had been struggling to sell projects due to lack of proper connectivity. There are around 1.5 lakh home buyers who have suffered for more than a decade due to the delay and I understand their pain and have been in touch with them. In fact we were ready to contribute in whatever way required to complete the expressway as its completion would help revive real estate activity in the region. As the entire land required for completing the Dwarka Expressway now vests with NHAI and the tenders for construction have been floated, we are hopeful of a quick completion of the road project. Gurugram residential sector is mainly driven by the bullish commercial and office market in Golf Course Road, DLF Cyber City and NH8. Some of the prominent micro markets are the Southern Periphery Road connecting Golf Course Road with NH-8, New Gurgaon, sectors near Manesar and areas around the Dwarka Expressway or Northern Periphery Road that connects Dwarka with National Highway 8. Currently, the focus of most developers is completing the pending & on-going projects and offloading existing inventory. There have been few new project launches and transaction activity has remained low in NCR. Business Prospects Started in 1986, Chintels India Ltd. led by my father primarily dealt in buying and selling of land. At that point of time my father bought parcels of land in Gurugram and around Dwarka e-way with the prospect of developing a golf course, a trend in those days. With those lands coming under Gurugram development plan 2021 as commercial and residential sectors, we decided to self-develop them as also in partnership with experienced developers for residential and commercial projects. The company is developing over 600 acres of self-owned prime land in Delhi and NCR located strategically in areas where development is happening fast. Chintels Corporate Park is being developed in sector 114 Gurgaon, a commercial zone with mega development work going on around the 150 mtrs wide Dwarka Expressway (Northern Periphery Road) connecting New Delhi and Gurgaon. Chintels Corporate Park on the Dwarka Expressway has location advantage in terms of easy accessibility from New Delhi with 99 Meters wide road and 150 meters wide Dwarka Expressway. Sectors 117 and 115, where the company owns 90 per cent of land are the upcoming commercial sectors in Gurgaon and we see huge growth prospects here given the clearance to Dwarka e-way completion. Another 300 acres of land on Sohna road, Gurugram, is also available for future development either ourselves or through JVs. We recently completed and commenced the handover of ‘Chintels Paradiso’ in Sec 109, New Gurgaon. Chintels Paradiso which is a luxurious 1.1 million square foot high-rise apartment complex built over 12.3 acres only a kilometer away from the new Northern Peripheral Road. In terms of joint ventures, International City in collaboration with Sobha Developers is a secured and low density villa community with just 6 villas per acre*;spread across more than 166 acres and divided in 4 phases,  it offers Presidential Villas, Duplex Villas and Super Luxury Row Houses. Likewise, ATS Kocoon is a joint development with ATS in sector 109, Gurgaon, located very close to the 150m Dwarka – Maneser Expressway. It is a residential project of 444 homes, designed by the renowned architect Hafeez Contractor, spread over 11 acres. In future I would like to develop a project for Senior Citizens and diversify into other geographies and other businesses as well. For instance a financial instrument lime mutual fund for women, music & publishing company and a social organization for the special need children.