Overdue Gurugram Metro extension to bring old and new town areas closer

Legal and administrative hubs here may well benefit from this proximity to the metro. For the thousands who have to travel here, life may become simpler in a few years

One half of the bustling city of Gurugram was in search of connectivity. With the Union Cabinet clearing metro connectivity from HUDA City Centre to Cyber City, with a spur to Dwarka Expressway, that dream is on its way to fruition. However, this Rs 6,000 crore project, with 27 elevated stations, to be completed in 2026, passes mostly through mature real estate markets. The Subhash Chowk link may come as a relief to the entire resident and floating population of Sohna Road that had to wait for shared autos and buses to reach Huda City Centre metro station.

With a large number of educational, commercial and retail hubs along the road, the metro link has come a step closer. Will this impact property prices in these markets? Maybe not, as these are saturated and in-demand markets with robust occupancy.

The link from new to old Gurugram would be through the Hero Honda Chowk, an important mobility hub. The new metro link connects Sectors 3-10, which were till now neglected by the mass transit system. These also connect to the large old Gurugram market, railway station and transport authority. Legal and administrative hubs here may well benefit from this proximity to the metro. For the thousands who have to travel here, life may become simpler in a few years.

Better connectivity to New Gurugram

For the New Gurugram sectors that are looking for connectivity, the Basai and Sector 37 station will bring the metro a little closer but the Dwarka Expressway completion will have more of an impact on these sectors than the new metro line. However, the promise of a metro access is likely to enhance the prospects of the new hub that is to come up in New Town. Similarly, the Bajghera link abuts the New Development Greens of the Delhi Development Authority and could well trigger some new formats there. For Vatika Group’s Gaurav Bhalla, even this peripheral access to residents of New Town, including in his 546-acre Vatika India Next, covering Sectors 81-85, would benefit traders who currently travel by road to bring their goods back. He expects the new line to ease congestion on the roads.

The spacious layout of New Town saw many professionals move to these sectors. Once the metro connectivity comes, this trickle may well become a flood. The advantage of connectivity through the NH 48, Dwarka Expressway and the metro may nudge people who are fed up with the endless traffic jams coming to Gurugram from Delhi to move here. These sectors offer a relatively easier ride to and from the commercial districts of Gurugram.

The Udyog Vihar sectors are already occupied and may not witness any significant impact across categories A, B and C commercial space, expects Ashim Chowdhury, Vice President, Research Anarock. For those working in these establishments, the connectivity to the metro across National Highway 48 may be a big relief.

The residential markets of Sectors 21-23 may be the ones to see a lot of redevelopment as was in the case of Greater Kailash in Delhi. These are large plotted developments which are decades old and on the cusp of change. Currently, the regulatory uncertainty over constructing the fourth floor in Gurugram is holding back its development. With limited connectivity, these were the overlooked sectors. Once the metro reaches there, and with a little bit of policy thinking, these could well become the new premium sectors in the established areas of the city.

Decongestion of roads

Experts are unanimous that the biggest impact of the new metro announcement would be the decongestion of densely populated areas. It will generate a new generation of metro users who had earlier been left out entirely of the metro growth across the National Capital Region (NCR). There is already a lot of infrastructure development in these areas, the much-delayed Dwarka Expressway being the most prominent. Old Gurugram has already been crisscrossed by a network of new roads, flyovers and underpasses, built at unbelievable speed. The redevelopment of the busy Atul Kataria Chowk is still underway and may ease travel woes. However, it remains to be seen how efficiently the metro construction manages to navigate the crowded areas of the old city.

When the Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced in Budget 2023 that construction work on the new metro link would begin this financial year, there was some speculative property purchase along the route. Now that capital allocations have been made and cabinet approval announced, a second spurt in development is likely and yet another is expected when work is complete, estimates Chowdhury of Anarock. But the litmus test of the impact of this project has to be its efficient construction management and completion. Normally new lines lead to new growth prospects. Since this line mostly covers already matured markets, new peripheral developments may be restricted to those areas where greenfield land is still available. Even while this work is on, fresh announcements of the airport link as well as the Dwarka link may further spur excitement in the property markets of Gurugram, Dwarka and Najafgarh.

E Jayashree Kurup is a writer-researcher in real estate and Director Real Estate & Cities, Wordmeister Editorial Services. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.