Nagpur's mall plans become a hit

The proposal of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) to construct shopping malls on surplus lands has received a tremendous response with leading developers submitting their bids.

The civic body has earmarked six places in the city for setting up shopping malls, hotels and restaurants.

NMC has set aside over 63,090 square metres of land for the purpose at places like Netaji market, Sitabuldi (9,393.4 sq m), water works office, Gokulpeth market, West High Court road (9,304 sq m), Danaganj, Old Bhandara road (16,875 sq m), Jaripatka bus stop (5,983 sq m) and Pachpaoli and Kamal Talkies square (17,244 sq m).

Some like the water works office at Sitabuldi is a relic of the British days and was originally a residential dwelling. "Converting a residential unit with courtyard, reception area and a kitchen, into an office is always difficult," says a senior water works engineer.

The building was meant to be pulled down and re-constructed, but the costs were prohibitive and certain amendments were required.

"Certain regulations needed to be amended for a corporation administration office to be accommodated in a commercial complex," said the engineer. The amendments were done in successive meetings of the civic body and were later approved by the state government.

As per the plan, the corporation will not be spending any amount on the construction of its new offices, but will still earn a substantial amount as rent for the next two decades. The malls will be constructed on a built-operate-and-transfer (BOT) basis at an estimated cost of Rs 203 crore.

Since the Netaji Market Mall will be located in a crowded locality, the permitted floor to space index (FSI) is 1.25. For the remaining five malls, the FSI is 2.5. Six firms have evinced interest in the Netaji Market mall, ten in water works office, 11 in Gokulpeth, nine in Danaganj, and seven each in Jaripatka and Pachpaoli.

The firms include Unity Infrastructure Limited of Mumbai, Gupta Coal India Limited of Nagpur, E-City Entertainment Private Limited (Zee Group), Avinash Developers of Raipur, Baba Nanak Sons, Indo Pacific Software and Entertainment Limited, Shriram Buildcon Private Limited, BSEL Infrastructure Reality Limited of Mumbai, Dosti Group, DLF Limited of Delhi, Haldiram Foods International Limited, Nagpur Development Private Limited, Madhu Fertilisers Limited (construction division), S K Banerjee Group (in a joint proposal with the Centre Point Group of Hotels and Karamchand Realtake Private Limited) and Vipul Constructions Limited of Delhi.

While the corporation has laid a broad criteria for the malls, builders can construct hotels, restaurants or multiplexes as long as they do not violate the development control rules (DCR).

The firm which bags a contract will have to pay a one-time premium in the range of Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 2.5 crore to the corporation. The civic body will charge a nominal rent of Rs 45 per square metre per year from tenants.

It will have to pay a yearly amount to the corporation for the next 20 years. The firm paying the highest total amount will get the contract, provided it meets all the conditions. The corporation would start getting revenue from the financial year 2008-09.

A number of IT and ITeS companies, which had evinced interest in setting up their base here had complained about lack of adequate infrastructure in terms of shopping areas and the hospitality sector in the city. International agencies, which surveyed the city had also made similar remarks. The corporation expects this to be a thing of the past soon.

Officials said the developers should have an annual turnover of at least Rs 50 crore to participate in the bidding process.