City realtors aim high Assetventures

mpressed by the infrastructure development and synergy between town planning and bylaws in Japan and South Korea, real estate players in the city now believe vertical growth is the solution to the crunch of land in Ahmedabad. Recently, a team of around 120 real estate developers of Gujarat had been on a 10-day tour to Japan and South Korea. The tour was organised by Gujarat chapter of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Credai).

The developers were very much impressed by the city development projects undertaken by the governments of the two countries. Unlike the US, Japan and Korea feel severe crunch of land, so they prefer vertical development, said Dushyant Pandya of Vishwanath Group. He also said horizontal development would mean higher prices of land.

"At present, the land prices in the city are no longer affordable for citizens. Though, many say the prices here are still lower than that in Pune or Bangalore, one should not overlook the fact that even the average earning of people here is lower," he said. Suresh Patel, vice president of Gujarat Institute of Housing and Estate Developers (Gihed), said though Japan is under higher risk of earthquake, the government allows 100-storey buildings. "It makes us wonder why we are not allowed to build 20-25 storey residential complexes in the city," Patel said.

Almost half of the representatives of the delegations were from Ahmedabad. The delegation visited Osaka, Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan and Seoul in South Korea during the 10-day tour. It had business to business meeting along with having a look at various infrastructure projects there.

"Town planning is not only about building houses, it is also about traffic, law and order and civic amenities," said Jaxay Shah, president of Credai, Gujarat Chapter. He said there must be a perfect blending of development and services. He felt that since the government was about to prepare a plan of Ahmedabad's development for 10 years, the officials concerned should also visit these countries.

Shah said there was a need to create skilled human resource pool that for providing quality works. He said Credai is planning to set up centres for training of all levels of people involved in real estate sectors. However, the government should help the association with providing adequate land for setting up such centres, he said.

"We want to set up such training centres first in four major cities of the state - Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot, and then take it further to small towns," he said.

Shah also stressed the need to develop knowledge back up. "Though the government-run ITIs are running some courses, for real development public-private partnership is a must," he said.