Track2Realty Exclusive: Integrated township in the Indian context is a baby that everyone was expecting with their own set of expectations. And hence, within a decade the term was so over-used that it lost its relevance. Any and every mixed land use was projected as an integrated township and it often lacked the basic DNA of affordability, convenience, lifestyle and walk-to-work. As a matter of fact, Trck2Realty noted township projects were also conceptualized by many as safe investments in India at a time when funds were on the look out to deploy and developers needed more projects in the kitty to bag that.
In 2013 amidst the debate between urban sprawls and high rises, where Indian real estate seems to be too focused on the optimum use of land with FSI and FAR norms being relaxed; increasing load on land and overall infrastructure deficit demands has yet again necessitated the rebirth of integrated township.
The question, however, still stands—has the Indian real estate gone through the learning curve and townships in the year ahead would be really integrated?
Some of the analysts tend to believe rebirth of integrated township in the year ahead is inevitable given the fact that India’s urban population is projected to grow to 533 million by 2025, and the real estate sector is likely to grow by almost 30% over the next decade.
Since the housing sector currently contributes up to 6% of the country’s GDP and with the National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy suggests that at least 50 per cent of the population will live in urban areas by 2041, there is a need to create sustainable mobility and infrastructure within townships.
Brotin Banerjee, MD & CEO of Tata Housing asserts the real estate industry has realised the importance of the development of integrated townships, where an integrated approach is adopted in order to deliver better projects to consumers. Developers have realized that concentrating on one developmental aspect, as in the case of cluster housing, will be rendered futile unless a multi-dimensional approach is adopted.
“An integration of a variety of elements such as schools, residences, recreation areas, hospital and retail is what an integrated township approach provides. In other words, consumers benefit from integrated townships as they can enjoy a good lifestyle with all amenities provided under one roof. This enables in achieving a community vision for the development,” says Banerjee.
…..to be continued
