Vandana Ramnani Moneycontrol News
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the 83.3-km-long section of the Western Peripheral Expressway or the KMP Expressway from Kundli to Manesar, the entire Ring Expressway panning over 200 km around Delhi is now ready.
Real estate experts are of the view that this ‘infra loop’ is a ‘game changer’ and is expected to give a fillip to the realty market along the belt as the new infrastructure would lead to enhanced demand for industrial, warehousing lands and setting up of data centres.
Industrial development in NCR attracts several support facilities like warehouses, transshipment hubs and logistic hubs. The demand for the warehouses and other allied activities is poised to grow with the KMP Expressway now operational, say experts.
It must be noted here that the Haryana government has already announced that it has plans to develop five new cities spread over an area of 25,000 hectares along both sides of the 185-km KMP and 50-km KGP. Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said on October 26 that these cities of 5,000 hectares each will be developed as industrial, economic and commercial corridors. Residential development would also be part of the plan, he had said.
"The draft plan for the five new cities to be developed along 185 km Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) and the 50 km area along Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal (KGP) that falls in Haryana is ready. A massive industrial, commercial and residential corridor along two km on either side is planned. As many as 25,000 hectares are expected to come up for development. The area would be bigger than Delhi," he had said in October.
Provide a fillip to the realty sector
"Now Sonepat-Kundli is well connected to Manesar and Gurgaon industrial belt. Even the airport is an easy drive away. We expect an immediate fillip to the real estate market in Sonepat-Kundli. A lot of people will find it easy to live here and commute to Gurgaon. There is a huge increase demand for industrial and warehousing lands as well. We expect the prices to rise by 15-20 percent in the short term and more importantly rise in actual inhabitation in this belt,” says Pankaj Bajaj, president, CREDAI-NCR.
According to Gaurav Jain, Vice President, NAREDCO, the increased accessibility to the expressway will have a positive impact on the Kundli-Sonepat region. There will be increased warehousing and industrial activity along the belt with Palwal and Kundli at an advantage in term of land values.
Investors would be scouting for big parcels of land that are over 100 acres for setting up warehousing facilities. This will be a game changer for this area, he adds.
“With KMP Expressway, apart from industrial and economic development there would be surplus investment opportunities in the region,” says Kamal Taneja, MD, TDI Infracorp.
Land parcels close to Haryana and Delhi to see industrial growth
Sector experts are of the view that land parcels facing Rajasthan, Delhi and Haryana will see industrial growth. Under the industrial segment, activities that will see a rise include warehousing – open, regular and storage and data centers on the IT side of the business.
Several foreign investors have already started showing interest in this location, so have private equity funds. Investors would typically want to invest in a market which is relatively slow. Having said that, there would be some fence sitters who would negotiate terms and wait until elections before transacting, says an industry expert.
Overall there is immense scope for growth along this belt. It may take another two years for financial closure. As far as industrial buildings are concerned, it does not take more than five months to build, he says.
As for companies that have already established a base here, Embassy Industrial Parks is a front runner. Embassy Industrial Parks had acquired a 108-acre land parcel in Haryana’s Farrukhnagar town near Gurgaon. Embassy Industrial Parks has signed an MOU worth Rs 1,910 crore with the government of Haryana to develop a 3 lakh sq ft industrial park in the area.
Proximity to the large consumption centres of IMT Manesar and Gurugram along with ease of connectivity to the Delhi-Jaipur highway make Farrukhnagar an ideal location. The area houses leading companies from various sectors such as e-commerce, automotive, logistics, retail and FMCG.
Anshul Singhal, CEO, Embassy Industrial Parks, told Moneycontrol that already 1.5 million sq ft of space has been leased out. “A highway project such as the KMP impacts the entire logistical support of the country as vendors and suppliers would use it as a route to ship and receive goods from the region. As a whole, it would increase operational efficiency. Along with GST, it will increase the ease of doing business,” he says.
He does not see prices along the stretch to increase any further as they have already been factored in at the time of construction. “Areas close to Delhi and Gurugram will witness faster growth with data centres, schools, hospitals, hotels, residential developments, warehousing etc coming up along the area. The entire stretch will not develop overnight. Growth will happen gradually in the next five to 10 years. It’s almost as big as the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and growth will take time,” he says.
The company is also scouting for more land in the region. “Our focus would be on buying land that is closely accessible to the KMP. We have not identified any parcels yet but we are currently under discussion,” he adds.
The Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway or the Western Peripheral Expressway has been opened to the public after over almost a decade. The 83-km stretch has been built at a cost of Rs 9,000 crore. The first phase of the highway between Manesar and Palwal was made operational in 2016.
The KMP Expressway meets the 135-km Eastern Peripheral Expressway also called the Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal Expressway at Kundli at one end and Palwal at the other. The KGP was inaugurated in May this year. Together the two highways encircle the Capital in a loop.
Both the expressways are expected to reduce traffic congestion and pollution in the national capital region as over 50,000 vehicles would be diverted from Delhi.
vandana.ramnani@nw18.com
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