Builders' dream for growth

With Bangalore’s haphazard, unplanned growth staring us in the face, the concern of the Mysoreans is to see that it does not go the Bangalore way. It is heartening to see that one of the biggest stakeholders in the city, the builders, are also thinking of the heritage city first and then the selling of the apartments, finds out N Niranjan Nikam, even as the four-day My Realty 2012, is on at the Maharaja’s College grounds.

M y friend Sarojini was in Bangalore to visit her daughter recently. She went to a shop on Avenue Road and the shopkeeper, a Marwari, was pleasantly surprised the way she was talking to him. He asked her where she was from and she said Mysore. “Amma, no wonder you have so much of patience and time.

Here no one has time for a pleasant talk. Please see that you preserve Mysore and do not allow it to become another Bangalore,” was the reaction of the concerned Marwari shopkeeper.

It is that time of the year again, where the builders try to bring the buyers on a common platform to showcase the properties they have at one place and this is the seventh edition of the My Realty 2012 show on at the Maharaja’s College grounds, is a proof of this.

“The Builders Association of India, Mysore chapter and the Confederation of the Real Estate Developers of India (CREDAI) have come together, wherein; all are credible and authenticated developers, where the Credai code of conduct is strictly followed.
Here the buyer has the choice to see the different projects like the fruits in a basket,” said My Realty 2012 chairman S Prakash.

There are about 25 participants and some of the big names in the real estate field like Prestige, Shoba, Brigades, Fortune, Shriram properties from Bangalore and Mysore’s Sankalp, Premier, Pramur  are participating. The financial institutions like ICICI, HDFC, Axis are also participating, Credai, Mysore president M B Nagakumar told City Herald.

Apartments

Asked how many apartments had been built till now in Mysore, Nagakumar said that there were nearly 2,000 flats built out of which 1500 had already been sold. The demand is there with a 20 per cent growth every year.

With the penchant for individual houses that a traditional Mysorean still has, is it not a challenge to change the mindset? Here the members of the organising committee including BAI Mysore chairman A V Sridhar, My Realty secretary S R Swamy, Prakash and Nagakumar are unanimous in their opinion that if Mysore has to be preserved and should not go the way of Bangalore, then the core area, the heritage part of the city has to be maintained and development has to happen in the periphery of the city.

“It is better to encourage joint ventures (JVs) with the public private partnership model where for instance a public transport like a bus can pick up 100 people from one place than to go around different parts to pick up others. Also the laying of pipes for water, cables for electricity can all be minimised with high rise buildings,” said Prakash.

What is the profile of a buyer in Mysore? In Bangalore if one visits a project site, it is the young family crowd and sometimes  even a young lady with her parents visiting the mockup flat who takes a decision to purchase a flat. “Here it is slowly changing. The elderly are moving from individual houses to flats as they have realised that many issues like safety, security, availability of house maids are all taken care of,” said Sridhar.
Sea change

Just one company the TVS set up in Nanjangud industrial area nearly two decades ago made a sea change in the whole area. The ITC is coming up, Nestle is expanding and many of these companies are buying flats for their company guest houses in JP Nagar, said Swamy.

However, there are lot of concerns the builders in Mysore have which the government is promising to address and nothing much has been done so far. It is first the high taxation and the floor area ration (FAR).

A commercial space in Bangalore Jayanagar is Rs 25 per sq ft whereas in the KSRTC bus stand in Mysore it is Rs 38 per sq ft. The committee members said that it was simply because of the clear advantage in FAR, Bangalore has and unless the ratio is increased from the present 1.5 to 2 to at least 3 the problem will continue, they said.

It is sad that the government has only misplaced priorities and with the building industry being one of the largest employers if the building boom has to sustain then the government must act. “Either there should be VAT or stamp duty it cannot have both, the tax policy should be simplified, “ is the demand of the builders. 

What is the going rate of the flats? It is anywhere between Rs 1,500 per sq ft in the outskirts  of the city to Rs 2,500 per sq ft in JP Nagar to Rs 3,000 to Rs 3,200 in the heart of the city like Jayalakshmipuram, Vontikoppal, Lakshmipuram, said Nagakumar.

My Realty is expecting an optimistic footfall of anywhere between 25,000 to 30,000. “We have issued 10,000 passes to the clubs and our previous buyers and we hope to do a good business of at least Rs 30 crore in air condition comfort,” said Prakash and Nagakumar.

The only fervent wish of every Mysorean is that, as one of the headlines in My Realty 2012 brochure says, ‘Mysore forward gracefully.’