Profiling GST, OMR and Oragadam

HOLISTIC LIVING

With rising population,integrated townships are poised to be the next big thing in Chennai,even as suburbs in the city play host to a number of such projects.RADHIKA RAMASWAMY visits three important corridors in the city to find out more

GRAND SOUTHERN TRUNK (GST)

The 20-kilometre stretch from Tambaram to Maraimalai Nagar on GST Road could well be mistaken to be within city limits.Such is the development here. GST Road has been touted as a premium industrial corridor and connects all the Southern districts of the State to Chennai via both road and rail. Home to manufacturing giants, IT majors, schools and colleges, the road, over the past three years, has turned into a commercial hub of sorts. One of the first companies to set up its unit on GST Road was Team (Team co Hitech Enginering Ltd) in Vandalur (20 years ago). This was followed by a series of developments in and around Maraimalai Nagar. Mahindra World City,an integrated township,spread across 1,500 acres,developed in the year 2000 transformed the landscape of GST and triggered the growth of integrated townships in this area.Arun Excello’s Estancia and Shriram Properties’ The Gateway are upcoming integrated projects here.”While OMR is IT-centric, GST is a mix of IT, telecom, automobile and ancillary units,”says P Suresh,MD,Arun Excello.”The city has reached a saturation point in terms of significant residential development.With Chennai expanding and peripheral areas playing host to large-scale industrial boom,self-contained townships have become the order of the day.”

OLD MAHABALIPURAM ROAD (OMR)

The OMR phenomenon occurred in the late 90s. What was once a stretch with green patches and large land parcels on either side of the road has evolved into a premier IT corridor.Tidel Park was the first IT establishment to foray into OMR,which is now called Rajiv Gandhi Salai. This was followed by the mushrooming of several other IT parks.Today,over 2.7 lakh people work out of here. “The IT boom led to an unprecedented residential demand along the stretch and several residential projects have come up since 2000,”says K K Raman,Vice-President,DLF Homes “Nobody has the time or the energy to go to far-away places for entertainment and recreation. People prefer everything right from education to healthcare centres in the vicinity of their homes. This is where integrated townships come into play. An integrated township is not just about a home. It is about creating a lifestyle that takes care of every single need of the resident.”DLF Homes is coming up with a 58-acre integrated township project called Garden City in Shollinganalur. Over the next two years,the number of people working in OMR is expected to cross four lakhs. With this,the demand for gated communities will only increase. There are currently over five full-fledged integrated townships on OMR.

ORAGADAM AND SRIPERUMBUDUR

Oragadam,centrally located between Grand Southern Trunk and NH4,has been touted as Chennai’s largest and the most developed industrial belt. With over 22 Fortune 500 companies (of which six are global car manufacturers),the Sriperumbudur-Oragadam belt has seen tremendous industrial growth in less than four years. The area is well-connected via road and rail and according to industry experts,the presence of automobile giants like Renault and Nissan and Ford has triggered growth around Oragadam. Several manufacturing giants such as Motorola, Dell, Flextronics, Samsung, Nokia, Apollo Tyres,and TVS Electronics,have set up their respective units in the industrial belt stretching from Sriperumbudur to Oragadam. Three integrated townships – Arun Excello’s Temple Green,Hiranandani (Hirco Group)’s Palace Garden and Inno Geo City are being developed in Oragadam. Aniruddha Joshi,Executive Director,Hirco Group,Says, “Today,owning a home in the city has become cumbersome and costly. The only solution to the spiralling price and increasing interest rates on home loans is to own a property in an integrated township coming up in the outskirts of the city. The new industrial corridor foraying into places like Oragadam will generate new jobs and will attract people to relocate out of Chennai. Our township will provide them with homes that are located conveniently close by. We are building the whole infrastructure from the ground up – roads,electrical power,telecommunications backbone,water and sanitation. By doing so,we reduce our townships dependence on the public infrastructure and make them self-sustaining – a key differentiator in a country where the public infrastructure is under considerable pressure.”That apart,today’s buyer profile consists mainly of young people,who want to fulfil their aspirations at the earliest.Moreover,these buyers want all this,within the constraints of a certain level of pricing. Townships are an ideal option for such buyers,due to the inherent advantages of economies of scale – they offer various amenities,at relatively lower price points.

 

Times Property, Times of India, 18 September 2010