I am NOT surprised a bit. I have been there and
have heard some of the horror stories from people
who actually live there. I also learned of the
infrastructure/architectural vulnerability of
Gurgaon, when I was a part of a team of
engineers and architects responding to an RFP
from one of the main developers there. Had an
opportunity to discuss issues with why they were
shopping for an American design team and what
they hoped to achieve with such a team on board.
The answers were not convincing, actually
disappointing -- it was NOT to design a better
environment with better buildings. It sounded
like a ploy to sell to NRIs. Obviously we were
not selected. I had no expectations of being
selected either, even though our partners had.
Good thing that we did not get selected. The
selected firm, one of the world's largest AE
firms, if not THE largest, quit midway after
incurring heavy losses and were in litigation
from what I heard. I will be very surprised if
they are still litigating :-).
But I have no sympathy for the victims. Many are
NRIs flush with dollars, hoping to live the
lifestyle of Maharajahs with retinues of servants
and being treated like royalty that they don't
where they made their money. They ought to have
known better.
And those desis who could afford to buy into a
piece of the promised land, must have a lot more
stashed away to be hurt, except for the few
salaried professionals who sank their lifesavings
into it. I was horrified to hear that a fully
occupied 10 plus story tall apartment complex had
NO water in the building. Imagine the sanitation
nightmare! I saw the tenants' domestic servants
lining up on the neatly manicured lawn at the
foot of the high-rise with a rainbow of colored
plastic buckets for the water tanker in the
morning. And I remember the intermittent power
outage; not as bad as Assam, but not expected of
the Shining City on the Hill waving the banners
of an aspiring 'superpower'. Our host's high-rise
condo was bitterly cold, with NO insulation in
the walls , and the little sun attempting to
shine thru the dense pollution created haze did
not have a chance at warming anything of the huge
heat sink that is the mass of un-insulated
concrete and brick structure That was five years
ago.
The gap between what is promised and what is delivered is vast.
*** Just like the claims of India promoters of Assamnet.
cm
At 8:17 PM -0700 8/9/07, Dilip/Dil Deka wrote:
Here is what is happening in Googaon.
As so often, a sweet idea has turned sour in India.
=======================================================
Nightmares in Mall Town
Jams. Power breakdowns. Water shortages. Road
rage. Spiralling crime. Gurgaon, Indias
metaphor for the future city, is in a messy
hole. And everybody is complaining. Shantanu
Guha Ray and Harsha Baruah report
SLIDE SHOW
<http://www.tehelka.com/story_main33.asp?filename=Bu110807nightmares.asp#>Click
here to start »
From a distance, it looked like a Confederation
of Indian Industry seminar being held in the
open: scores of senior executives of top mncs
and their families braving the blistering July
heat to stand in an empty swimming pool at
Gurgaons ultra-expensive Central Park apartment
complex. A huge blue banner in the backdrop
hinted at the obvious standoff between them and
the builders, Mahindra-Gesco and Messrs Bakshi
Builders, over a host of issues, prominent among
them being the denial of rights to a swanky club
once offered as bait with the condominium.
The protestors did not engage in any
sloganeering, nor did they burn effigies. They
simply walked in and out of the pool and
dispersed. But the quiet, unusual protest once
again brought into the limelight the perennial
infrastructure problems residents face across
Gurgaon, Indias dream city that is wilting
under the pressure of half-a-million residents
and an additional crowd of 15 lakh industrial
workers/employees visiting the city six days a
week.
Consider the case of Central Park: with 408
apartments sold for around Rs 3-4 crore each, it
is one of the prime residential zones in
Gurgaon. But the builders, Gulab Farms Private
Limited, a unit of Messrs Bakshi Builders, first
delayed the project for more than a year and are
now charging a host of internal development
charges from the residents.
Says resident Rajiv Sharma, Airtel ceo for small
and medium businesses: We paid a non-refundable
Rs 25,000 for the club membership. Worse, they
are now passing on internal development charges
on to us. Adds Vineet Kapila, vice-president,
Coca-Cola, South-West Asia operations: The
builder wants to charge exorbitant fees for a
club with facilities that other clubs in Gurgaon
provide for Rs 400-500 per month. As per the
records, almost all residents have paid
additional sums ranging from Rs 5-11 lakh.
can of sardines: one of Gurgaons biggest
problems is the absence of public transport
Kapila, Sharma and others have written to
Mahindra Gesco chairman Anand Mahindra, seeking
his intervention. But it has not cut much ice
since Mahindra Gesco was merely the project
manager. Moreover, it is now out of the project.
This, many say, is in short the biggest crisis
afflicting the residential, mall and outsourcing
hub of Gurgaon. In other words, what is promised
is not delivered because the pressures are just
too high. Says Sandeep Arora, India
representative, Rare Whisky Collection and
Central Park resident: Growth needs to be
supplemented with facilities. But when
facilities are missing, you have all kinds of
problems. Builders, private or otherwise, need
to address these problems. For example, the dlf
Cyber City in Gurgaon gets power through its own
gas-fired turbine that has steady supplies from
the Gas Authority of India Limited. But how many
apartments in Gurgaon have such facilities?
Experts draw instant comparisons with cities
like Noida and Greater Noida where the state
government first developed the infrastructure
and then started the construction process. But
in the case of Gurgaon, it worked the opposite
way.
The state government needs to work seriously on
infrastructure before hawking these places. Just
look at the Mehrauli-Gurgaon road and the malls
and expensive condominiums coming up on both
sides of it do we have the infrastructure to
support it? asks Sanjay Kaul, head of an
advocacy group on Gurgaon.
Agrees Arvind Mohan, vice-president, Omaxe
Limited, one of the countrys leading builders:
When Gurgaon was being developed, the state
government promised the moon to builders like
dlf, Ansals and Unitech. Look at where we are
today. Mohan is supported by Abdul Bari, senior
vice-president, marketing, Majestic Properties.
The Haryana government must have stricter
building norms. Infrastructure is in a shambles
and the concept of the integrated township is
gone. Earlier, the norm was to have one car per
flat, now its four cars per flat. Gurgaon is a
messy, modern village.
The gap between what is promised and what is
delivered is vast. The current dip in
residential real estate prices does not bother
the builders because retail remains high on
their radar. Malls are mushrooming all over
Gurgaon and the pressure on traffic, power,
security and water is on an all-time high.
Many agree that the mall market has reached a
saturation point, and that they either have to
change their usp or face extinction. The rate
of growth of retail in India is approximately 30
percent. We have to take this into account when
were asked whether theres a glut of malls,
says Mohan. He adds: The pie is getting bigger
because the malls are catering to the whole
family.
Thats good news for the seller. But what about
the buyer? Parking space comes at a premium all
across Gurgaon. A recent study showed malls
having only 40 percent parking space for its
occupants and customers. As a result, Gurgaon
infrastructure-wise is in utter chaos.
no breathing space: mushrooming malls have
increased traffic and power pressures
The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam pegs the
electricity requirement of Gurgaon at 90 lakh
units per day and maintains there is no
shortfall. But residents have a different story
to tell. On an average, each home in Gurgaon has
an hour-long load shedding a day. The
sanctioning of plots should have slowed down
much earlier. Why is it that the bureaucrats are
waiting for the extended Master Plan? It is
because now they have realised the mess they
have gone in, says Pradip Jain, one of
Gurgaons topmost planners.
Water is another crisis zone. Current estimates
show Gurgaon could lose its entire drinking
water reserve by 2012. A pipeline links the
Western Yamuna Canal in Sonepat to Gurgaon, yet
large parts of Gurgaon still do not receive
water. Whats more, reports prepared by the
Haryana Urban Development Agency (HUDA) say a
high-tech city like Gurgaon must have high-tech
solutions.
But is it happening? Where are the hi-tech
solutions? There is no satisfactory bus system.
There is no monorail either. We have just
started hearing about the Metro, says GB Singh,
president, Asian Professional Security
Association that works across Asia. Singh, who
has lived in Gurgaon whose current police
force covers a mere one-third of the city for
more than two decades, says that besides
infrastructure tensions, crime is another cause
for worry. On an average, Gurgaon witnesses 10
thefts and five robberies in a day.
That, incidentally, is the latest cause for
concern and discussion for all those who live in
Gurgaon, which HUDA still calls Indias truly
international city.
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