going green: Jamshyd Godrej, chairman and MD of Godrej & Boyce, talks on sustainable development

With India's real estate sector growing in leaps and bounds envisaging its future seems an exciting thing to do.  Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)'s Indian Real Estate 2020 was a conference to understand the growth potential and analyse prospective challenges faced by this sector by the year 2020. 

The event, held on June 27 at the Taj, saw a fair degree of participation from builders, brokers, financers, architects and CEOs.

It also brought together experts to discuss and debate on various issues like sustainable real estate development, infrastructure, growth trends, regulatory measures, emerging sectors, retail real estate and role of private equity players in the industry.

The event began with a welcome speech from Anuj Puri, conference chairman and country head of Jones Lang Lasalle Meghraj.  It was followed by a keynote address by Jamshyd N Godrej, chairman and MD of Godrej & Boyce.

Godrej stressed on the need for green buildings in the city and encouraged developers to construct on the principles of sustainable development.

building woes: Anuj Puri, CII chairman, highlights the challenges of the infrastructure sector

"As of now, Hyderabad has the maximum number of green buildings and is coming up with a new 1,000 acre project. It's high time for Mumbai to follow suit and construct environmentally conscious buildings," said Godrej.

The second session of the conference highlighted the need for better infrastructure in metros, cities and towns. Puri highlighted that property rates in areas like Kharghar and Charkop had seen an appreciation since infrastructural projects were announced there, though no actual work on the projects had started.

He stated the example of Chandigarh, which was seeing a real estate boom on account of its infrastructure.  This kind of development would reduce the influx of people in metros.  The panel agreed that infrastructural development was more dependent on the job market scenario rather than on real estate. 

Joining hands

Dr P C Sehgal, MD, Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation said that developers need to contribute more towards infrastructural development. But many builders opined that they were responsible for the local and not civic infrastructure.

Anish Nanavathy, principal, IDFC, said, "We need massive subsidiaries in this direction. Five per cent of GDP should be spent on infrastructure and the work should be given to good agencies."

The issue of public funding by way of CESS, taxes, etc, was also discussed. "The population can raise around 10 per cent of the development expenditure, while the government can raise around 90 per cent," said Nanavathy. 

The panel also proposed the idea of 'master planning' at places like Nariman Point, Bandra, Andheri, ie spots of residential and commercial importance.  Bhiwandi in the central suburbs was touted as the next hot spot. 

As discussions go, this one proved to be interesting. We hope it also proves to be fruitful in pointing the way towards a well-planned country, more importantly a city like Mumbai.

urmimala.banerjee@mid-day.com