Effects of Infrastructural Development on Real Estate in Mumbai 1 Mumbai Trans Harbour Link The story so far... Source: MMRDA Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), also known as the Sewri-Nhava Sheva Trans-Harbour Link, is a proposed 22.5 km long freeway grade road bridge planned to help decongest the island city of Mumbai by improving connectivity with Navi Mumbai, its satellite city. It will connect the city's eastern suburbs with the mainland across the harbour, via a 16.5 km sea bridge and a viaduct. This project also envisions the development of Navi Mumbai as a commercial region. The project completion deadline has been set at 2019. MTHL will connect Sewri in central-east Mumbai with Nhava Sheva across the harbour which is close to the country's largest container port JNPT. The bridge will begin in Sewri, South Mumbai and cross Thane Creek north of Elephanta Island and will terminate at Chirle village, near Nhava Sheva. At a later date, the bridge will also be linked to the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and Mumbai-Goa Highway reducing the travel time to Pune, Goa and Panvel by 1 hour. The link will also help increase connectivity to the proposed Navi Mumbai international airport. What next? The biggest landmark for this project was when Prime Minister Modi laid the foundation of this sea link on December 24, 2017. This together with the in-principle approval to fund 80 percent of the cost of the project by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has given a much needed impetus to the project. MMRDA will open the pre-qualification bids for the project very soon with work expected to start after monsoons in 2017. 2 What this means for residential real estate? Once operational, the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) will serve as an economic gateway to Navi Mumbai and provide a long term solution to the housing scarcity facing the millennium city. With travel time decreasing drastically to around 25 minutes from South Mumbai, Navi Mumbai has the potential of emerging as a satellite city similar to NOIDA and Gurugram. This link will be vital in connecting South Mumbai to the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport. With tracts of land opening up and connectivity to South Mumbai increasing, commercial development is expected boom. While buying a house people look at 2 main things – convenience and location. Navi Mumbai will provide both - at a fraction of the price of South Mumbai or the Western Suburbs. Areas in Navi Mumbai, such as Panvel, Ulwe, Vashi and Dronagiri have already started witnessing real estate development by well-established developers like Godrej Properties, Kalpatru and Arihant Group due to their closeness to MTHL. 3 Navi Mumbai International Airport The story so far... Like the roads of Mumbai, Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport too is congested and its capacity is nearly saturated. A second airport is critical for maintaining Maharashtra’s leadership in attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and cementing Mumbai’s position as a financial capital. Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA), the proposed international airport, is to be built in the Kopar-Panvel area of Navi Mumbai. City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) is the nodal agency for the project, which will be built through public-private (PPP) on a 'design, build, finance, operate and transfer' (DBFOT) basis. Ln July 2016, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) gave the crucial Stage-II forest and wildlife clearance to the NMIA project. With this, Cidco has got all the necessary clearances for the 16,000 crore project and hopes to commission the first phase by December 2019, with annual passenger handling capacity of 10 million. 4 What next? The last date of submission of bids was January 9, 2017 but the government has extended the time period by 2 months as 3 of the 4 companies shortlisted to build the airport have pulled out citing various reasons. What this means for residential real estate? If construction does start by the end of 2017 as planned, NMIA will open up job opportunities for people living in Navi Mumbai as corporates open up offices thereby fuelling the realty market and turning the city into an economic hotspot and a true satellite city of Mumbai. 5 Flyovers at Kalanagar Junction and Kurla-Vakola Elevated Road The story so far... PM Modi recently laid the foundation stones for two flyovers at Kalanagar Junction, Bandra – one leading towards Sea Link and the other approaching Bandra-Kurla Complex – both a part of the Kalanagar remodeling project. This gives a much needed push to ease the congestion around BKC as these flyovers are expected to provide seamless connectivity to the Complex as also to reduce traffic congestion in the Complex. The 5-km long elevated road from Kurla to Vakola near Western Express Highway – an extension to Santacruz-Chembur Link Road – will not only provide better connectivity to the Bandra-Kurla Complex but also will decongest the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road junction at Ahmed Raza Chowk on CST Road. What this means for residential real estate? As with any other transportation infrastructure upgrade, the construction of the Kalanagar flyover and the Kurla-Vakola elevated road will have a positive impact on the value of homes benefiting from these. The significant reduction in commuting time to and from BKC will see a surge in developer interest in Sion, Kurla, Vidyavihar and Chembur. In fact, Chembur’s property prices have already seen a major rise due to the cumulative effect of mega-projects like the Eastern Freeway, Monorail, and Metro. Meanwhile, demand for properties in Bandra-Kurla Complex, its adjoining areas and Chembur-Sion-Trombay Road is already rising and will rise further with these once these projects are complete. Reduced traffic congestions at Amar Mahal Junction in Chembur, Vakola in Santacruz, and parts of Sion and Kurla will increase the livability quotient of these areas and boost demand for residential as well as commercial real estate. 6 .