Pune builder hopes to woo Bangalore firms

Vascon Engineers, a Rs 100-crore ISO 9001:2000 specialist engineering group, dreams of making Pune the next Silicon Plateau of India and wants to be one of the main facilitators in achieving this.

It was actively present at the infrastructure pavilion of the recently-concluded IT.Com 2004 seeking to cash in on Bangalore's Achilles' heel "" infrastructure bottlenecks and poorly planned growth "" to woo industries.

Faster, better transport and much-lesser travel time is what the firm hopes to woo potential investors with.

Among the company's showpieces is the 1.5 million square feet Weikfield's IT Park it developed in Pune. Vascon specialises in taking up sub-contracts for buildings meant for pharma companies and chip manufacturers.

The company hopes to woo the Bangalore-based pharma companies and other high-end industries to set up shop in Pune and other centres like Himachal Pradesh (HP) and Chandigarh it is now developing.

Instead of the government taking the money and delaying or not doing any development work, the builders themselves will take up the development works where their interests lie. The government, will in turn waiver a major part of the development charges.

"This will ensure development of infrastructure faster. Each developer takes up the responsibility for developing a stretch of road, and hence they are able to plan very wide roads, foreseeing future development to the greatest extent possible," said chairman and managing director of Vascon R Vasudevan.

The duty concession that the HP government is using to woo industries to the state prompted Vascon to woo investors there. Its USP is good infrastructure, less congestion and well planned city centres.

The company, says Vasudevan, is one of the biggest builders for pharma development and in the last two-three years the company has developed 1 million square feet. "We cater to the needs of the high-end industries.These industries require very clean and dust-free environment which the company promises to provide," he added.

"There is no scope for error in buildings meant for the pharma and chip-making industry," says Vasudevan. Providing secure special doors and windows for high-tech industries like pharmaceuticals and chip manufacturers is one of the specialities of the firm.

"We have developed the building for Zensar, a pharma company, after being chosen from among five short-listed companies," added Vasudevan.

Vascon aims to use its expertise to move into yet to be developed areas that have potential. That is where Vascon saw an opportunity in Himachal Pradesh.

Vasudevan hopes to have a head start in the next centres of growth. After Bangalore, he wants software sector's eyes on Pune. He believes that problems faced by Bangalore today is basically because of the wrong concept of the infrastructure following the industry. He says industries should follow infrastructure.

To achieve this goal, he says, Pune builders have found a solution. The Promoters and Builders' Association of Pune are now in talks with the government to get a concession on the development charges. The company is aiming for a big chunk of the market in contractual development in Bangalore also.

It has made a start with a small residential project of bungalows on a five-and-a-half acre plot in Whitefield. Among its ambitious projects for Bangalore is Pharma City, the details of which are still under wraps.