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Old Mahabalipuram Road –
Also known as Rajiv Gandhi Salai or the IT Corridor, is a major road in suburban Chennai. This begins at Madhya Kailash temple in Adyar and continues till Mahabalipuram and finally merges with the East Coast Road (ECR). This long stretch is called the IT Corridor as it is the major center for many IT/ITES companies.
Fig.2. A view of OMR at Thiruvanmiyur junction and the Chennai MRTS.
Support from the Highway Department for better infrastructure
TNDRC (Tamil Nadu Road Development Company Ltd)has put forth an organization for a special purpose called the ‘IT Expressway Ltd’ (ITEL) as a wholly owned subsidiary for accommodating the IT Corridor Project which is being implemented in two phases – Phase-I which is between the Madhya Kailash Temple Junction and Siruseri. It also includes the ECR link Road that connects IT Corridor at Sholinganallur and the ECR at Kudumiyandithoppu. As part of the Phase II which is between Siruseri and Mahabalipuram, two bypasses would also be provided in Kelambakkam and Thiruporur.
The long stretch is planned with a construction of a six lane road with additional service roads and footpaths on the sides.
Where do the projects stand?
The inauguration of the six-lane main carriage way and the 2.1 km link road that connects the IT corridor and the ECR took place on 29th October 2008. Since December 14th 2008, the TNDRC started collecting toll for phase-I of the Rajiv Gandhi Salai. As of November 2009, Service roads and footpaths along the IT Corridor are available for three kilometers from Madhya Kailash to the SRP tools junction. The work on the rest of the stretch that includes the set up of busbays, is scheduled to be completed by May 2010.
With reference to the Phase-II project, acquisition of 156 hectares of land in 13 revenue villages (needed for Phase II) is carried out by the Kancheepuram district administration and is to be completed by 2010 end.
TIDEL Park- Home to IT and ITES Companies on OMR
The IT Corridor stretches from Tidel Park in Tharamani to Small Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd (SIPCOT) IT Park in Siruseri. The IT corridor accommodates the top IT /ITES companies such as Satyam Computer Services, Tata Consultancy Services, Accenture India, TECCI Park, Wipro Technologies, Scope International, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Photon Infotech, Infosys, Polaris Software Lab and so on. The IT majors like TCS, CTS, Infosys have their own facilities set up on the IT corridor.
Apart from this, SIPCOT has established a Cyber City spread over 2000 acres in Siruseri just adjacent to the IT Corridor. A number of IT/ITES companies are in the process of setting up their facilities.
Prominent Government Institutes and technical / educational institutions are also situated along the Corridor. The Cyber City is getting charged with increasing number of IT/ITES Companies in the Cyber City.
Real Estate in Chennai – Development towards infrastructure with basic amenities and facilities
Chennai Property prices have been on a rise in the last few years. But owing to the downturn and the financial crunch, prizes seem to stabilize and are on hold at present. The cost of construction in Chennai and anywhere in India as a whole have increased in the last few years. Another reason for the increase in real estate market in Chennai are the ITES and BPO industries in the city. These industries have not only increased the capital and rental values of the commercial property but also increased demand for housing for its workforce.
Rental values particularly in the OMR have increased to an extent. A few months back, Chennai property prices experienced a rise of 8-15 % in the last few years. Prices in Sholinganallur are in an excess of Rs 2.5 crores per acre.
The rise in steel and timber prices along with increase in labor costs have resulted in a high building cost – reaching about Rs.4000 per sq.ft for some gated communities residential types. But after the economic downturn, steel prices have fallen. Many realtors have come a long way sailing through the financial crunch. In fact, some offer apartments even less than Rs.2,000 per sq.ft.
Investment on the real estate has been on the rise especially with the volatile Sensex situation at the moment. With the talk of satellite townships coming in the outskirts of the city, the avenue for investment in real estate has never been this good.
Other realtors projects include Eden Park from L&T South City Projects. They develop a township with an investment of above Rs.12 lakh billion. Located near Siruseri on the OMR, the realtor has announced a concept of villa type of apartment, which combines the luxury, and privacy of an independent bungalow with the basic amenities and maintenance of an apartment. This project started on 18th January 2008 and is getting completed in various phases.
Project Estancia is another township project from Larson and Toubro (L&T) Urban Infrastructure Ltd in association with Arun Excello in Chennai. This project is unique in the sense that it is started on a land of 78 acres and an estimated cost of around Rs.1,800/- crore. Estancia refers to a Latin American Ranch in the Spanish language. This will house around 2,000 apartments, an IT park, hotel, shopping mall and a school as well. Vidya Mandir, a famous school of Chennai has offered to open up its school in this location. The education system in this school will match the type of people’s standards who will take residence here – it will also match the education of foreigners and expatriates. L&T that is noted for its civil engineering expertise will province the construction assistance and implementation for this venture launched by Estancia.
Real estate environment in Chennai is also rich in real estate agents who provide consultancy services for residential, commercial and retail, call centre and industrial property. They act like brokers who help in finishing a sale/purchase transaction for clients in the Real estate arena.
Real Estate booming on the IT Corridor
With IT companies increasing on the OMR, Real estate business is also thriving there in making accommodation and livelihood easy for the IT employees. The IT corridor is witnessing a boom in the residential apartments. The investment in such projects is estimated at a massive amount of about Rs 550 crore.
To site a few examples of township projects,
- Tamil nadu Government’s (TNHB) satellite community at Sholinganallur with IT Parks, schools, parks, play grounds, properly laid roads and public transport has about 4000 houses. This is situated next to the 200 acres of Rs.1000 crore National Maritime University Complex that is upcoming in the list.
- Construction companies from other states and leading real estate players are also thriving in the IT corridor. To name some of the realtors – Hiranandani, Mantri Developers, L&T Construction, Purvankara Projects, DLF Group, Vijay Shanti Builders, Suryavardhan, RAMS, Singapore based Ascendas, Bangalore based RMZ, Arihant, Doshi & Doshi. Most of these developers offer attractive amenities such as health clubs, super markets, sports facilities saving residents from commuting to the city for access to them. They also plan for the construction of a state-of-the-art shopping mall with hotels and cinemas.
- With more than 70,000 employees in the IT and BPO companies, the thrust for real estate development emerges from the projections that about one lakh people would be employed in the IT girdle in the next one year or so. In the last two years, according to research and findings, property prices have gone up 40 to 50 per cent in the whole area.
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