Prospective bidders say not much appetite for commercial spaces in Gurugram. Global City is aimed at being developed as a futuristic city within a city providing walk to work culture.
The ambitious Global City Project in Gurugram, a mixed-land use initiative for which bids were invited in March this year for three sites, is being remodelled keeping in view the increasing demand for residential facilities in the national capital region (NCR).
The project is envisioned to come up on around 1,000 acres of Khandsa, Narsinghpur, Mohammadpur Jharsa, Garauli Khurd and Garhi Harsaru in Gurugram. Mixed-land use involves planning of compatible uses on a real estate development project combining commercial, residential, institutional, offices and recreational functions.
Keeping in the view the demand for residential facilities, the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC), a state public sector enterprise marketing the Gurugram project, decided in its board of directors’ meeting at Chandigarh, to increase the permissible residential use in two of the three sites of 78.53 acres (site A) and 23.76 acres (site B-1) put up for auction from a maximum 20% to 35% each.
The permissible commercial use in the two sites would thus come down to a minimum of 65% each from the existing 80 %, officials said.
The corporation has also decided to drop the 40.23-acre land parcel (site B-2) having a maximum residential component of only 30% from the bidding process. Instead, a smaller parcel of 27.07 acres (site C-1) having a permissible residential use of minimum 50% would be put up for e-auction.
HSIIDC officials said modification of land usage of a large land parcel of 78.53 acres along with another parcel of 23.76 acres, and introducing a new site of 27.07 acres having a bigger residential component was done in view of the feedback of prospective bidders. The three sites aggregating 129.36 acres instead of 142.52 acres earlier will be put up for fresh bidding. The tentative date of e-auction which was advanced from May 19 to June 19, now stands deferred in view of the remodelling of the bid document. The modifications have also led to revision in the reserve price for the sites – from the existing ₹4,957 crore to ₹4,687 crore for the 78.53 acres site and from ₹1,298 crore to ₹1,250 crore for the 23.76-acre site. The reserve price of the 27.07-acre site, however, would increase from ₹1,073 crore to ₹1,079 crore, officials said.
Why is the project being remodelled?
Officials said the corporation conducted one-on-one meetings with a number of leading real estate developers, real estate-focused funds and other stakeholders at Mumbai, Bengaluru and Gurugram in April and May to market the project as not a single developer chose to register for e-auction of three land parcels aggregating 142.52 acres.
“During the one-on-one meeting with these prospective bidders, it emerged that most of them wanted an increase in the permissible residential component in the project in view of market conditions and financial gains,” an official said.
“There is a huge demand for residential facilities in Gurugram and NCR. The increase in residential components would also enable early cash recovery which is so essential for such large projects. It was also felt that the sites put up for auction would bring in an additional 31 million square feet of substantial commercial space in the market while the market may not have sufficient appetite for it. The average commercial space absorption in Gurugram at present is about 7-8 million square feet per year,’’ officials said.
Land was once set apart for Reliance SEZ
The Haryana government had in 2017 accorded in-principle approval for redesignation of about 1,000 acres of Global City project land as a special zone, to be developed as a mixed land use entity, in the published final development plan of Gurgaon-Manesar Urban Complex, 2031, with a provision of 300 floor area ratio. The Global City is aimed at being developed as a futuristic city within a city providing walk to work culture and state of the art infrastructure facilities.
The auction however has been delayed by a couple of months following a gaffe by the HSIIDC. While chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had led a state delegation to the Gulf in October 2022 to market the project, the corporation belatedly woke up to the reality that acquisition of 1,000 acres earmarked for the project was under challenge in three separate writ petitions bef0re the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC).
Two HSIIDC officials were placed under suspension for not undertaking due diligence in apprising the state government about the litigation on the land.
Decks were however cleared for the project launch in January 2023 as the three writ petitions challenging the acquisition of land were disposed of as “not pressed and withdrawn” by the HC. The three petitions were filed by former Congress (now BJP) leader Kuldeep Bishnoi; Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) leader, Ajay Chautala, father of Haryana deputy CM Dushyant Chautala who holds the Industries and Commerce portfolio; and gram panchayat of Gharauli Khurd.
The high court had in 2016 ordered a stay on the acquisition of the land parcels in Gurugram on which the about 1000 acres Global City project is proposed to come up.
The petitioners had challenged the acquisition of the land in question, which was initially proposed to be utilised for a joint venture special economic zone by HSIIDC and Reliance Ventures Limited. The acquisition was challenged alleging that 1,383 acres of Gurugram land which was acquired by the state government for public purpose was transferred to a joint venture company M/s Reliance Haryana SEZ Limited and therefore the acquisition is illegal.
Source : HT