Farmers seek to profit from ‘smart’ corridor along e-way

Sensing a golden opportunity in the state government’s plan to develop a smart city corridor along the 95-km-long Mumbai-Pune Expressway, villagers and farmers along the stretch are now demanding a price of Rs 1 crore per acre (43,560 square feet or 4,050 square metres) of land, up from the existing rate of Rs 50 to 60 lakh per acre, if local real estate brokers are to be believed.

Earlier, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) was appointed Special Planning Authority for the area, and in a notification issued in February, the state Urban Development Department (UDD) declared 84 villages (Maval taluka, Khalapur, Talegaon in Pune district and Panvel in Navi Mumbai district) along the Expressway under MSRDC’s jurisdiction, directing it to form its own Development Control Regulations (DCRs). Thereafter, the MSRDC received a few proposals from developers for construction of residential complexes along the stretch.

The buyers comprise investors, developers and land hoarders who expect a boom along the stretch once the smart city corridor concept is implemented.

Inderjit Sohi, a real estate broker who deals in selling land parcels, said, “I have land parcels of 100 to 500 acre available along the Expressway between Lonavala and Pune, and sellers are quoting around Rs 70 lakh to Rs 1 crore per acre. Those who have land facing the Expressway have started demanding Rs 1 crore or at least Rs 70 lakh per acre depending on the distance of land from the Expressway”.

Speaking about the current situation, Manohar Shroff, a developer from Navi Mumbai, said,

“After the MSRDC announced its plan, villagers have started increasing rates and there is competition among developers to buy and build land banks. However, quotation of '1 crore per acre by villagers is not rational and the real value cannot be more than Rs 70 lakh per acre. And even if we have to construct residential complexes and sell them, we also need residential zone-friendly infrastructure along the Expressway.”

Prakash Baviskar, Member, Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area (NAINA) Builders Association, said,

“This trend of villagers escalating land rates is not a good thing. By the time the MSRDC implements the project, which may be five years, any particular land parcel would have been sold to four or five land hoarders, further escalating land prices and making affordable housing impossible here.”