Comments on: Pune DeCi http://www.deeshaa.org/2007/04/10/cities_7/ Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:41:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: suhas http://www.deeshaa.org/2007/04/10/cities_7/comment-page-1/#comment-97936 suhas Mon, 16 Apr 2007 05:04:37 +0000 http://www.deeshaa.org/2007/04/08/cities_7/#comment-97936 we have successful as well as not so succcessful examples of gated communities as townships(gurgaon and tatanagar).now the question is if we make these small pockets of 'perfect things'with all facilties would it start a chain reaction of such developments in close proximities? how would these be sustianble? New towns in eurpoean countries started with similar basic concepts have been sucessful in decongesting the main cities but as a long terms goal not a feasible one . also these efforts should be done with inner citu revitalisation programmes. we have successful as well as not so succcessful examples of gated communities as townships(gurgaon and tatanagar).now the question is if we make these small pockets of ‘perfect things’with all facilties would it start a chain reaction of such developments in close proximities? how would these be sustianble?
New towns in eurpoean countries started with similar basic concepts have been sucessful in decongesting the main cities but as a long terms goal not a feasible one . also these efforts should be done with inner citu revitalisation programmes.

]]> By: error http://www.deeshaa.org/2007/04/10/cities_7/comment-page-1/#comment-97215 error Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:50:43 +0000 http://www.deeshaa.org/2007/04/08/cities_7/#comment-97215 posts like this one is one reason i dont blog. there is no meaningful analysis or debate going on here, just wishful thinking from fantasyland. posts like this one is one reason i dont blog. there is no meaningful analysis or debate going on here, just wishful thinking from fantasyland.

]]> By: Sameer http://www.deeshaa.org/2007/04/10/cities_7/comment-page-1/#comment-97213 Sameer Tue, 10 Apr 2007 12:55:25 +0000 http://www.deeshaa.org/2007/04/08/cities_7/#comment-97213 Atanu, first of all thanks for a detailed series on Urbanization. It is very thought provoking and instructive. I had a few questions regarding this. Acquiring land for the DeCi's will I believe be the first step in this process. In your example above the entire DeCi is built on non-prime land provide by Maharashta govt. Is this scenario realistic? If it is, would you let us know some data (e.g. acres of undeveloped non-prime land available etc.)? I have no idea whether this is realistic but if it isn't how does one go about acquiring prime property (most of which might be agricultural land). With the recent horrors in Nandigram, I am highly skeptical of any land acquisition efforts by govts. (state or union) in India on behalf of industries. So in the case of DeCi's would the land be acquired by the govt. on behalf of the anchor firms or will the anchor firms and other parties (one of which may be govt.) deal directly with the property owners. The latter would be a market based approach free of govt. intervention. I am afraid that firms might figure that getting the govt. to do the land acquisition is much cheaper and easier. How do we ensure that govt. does not acquire land at "dirt cheap" (pardon the pun) prices using archaic laws and not pay the market price to the property holders. I feel this question is important because even if acquiring land for the city itself is not a problem, there will be associated land acquisition required for providing access road, rail, air links and other things such as powerlines etc. Atanu, first of all thanks for a detailed series on Urbanization. It is very thought provoking and instructive. I had a few questions regarding this.

Acquiring land for the DeCi’s will I believe be the first step in this process. In your example above the entire DeCi is built on non-prime land provide by Maharashta govt. Is this scenario realistic? If it is, would you let us know some data (e.g. acres of undeveloped non-prime land available etc.)? I have no idea whether this is realistic but if it isn’t how does one go about acquiring prime property (most of which might be agricultural land).

With the recent horrors in Nandigram, I am highly skeptical of any land acquisition efforts by govts. (state or union) in India on behalf of industries. So in the case of DeCi’s would the land be acquired by the govt. on behalf of the anchor firms or will the anchor firms and other parties (one of which may be govt.) deal directly with the property owners. The latter would be a market based approach free of govt. intervention. I am afraid that firms might figure that getting the govt. to do the land acquisition is much cheaper and easier. How do we ensure that govt. does not acquire land at “dirt cheap” (pardon the pun) prices using archaic laws and not pay the market price to the property holders.

I feel this question is important because even if acquiring land for the city itself is not a problem, there will be associated land acquisition required for providing access road, rail, air links and other things such as powerlines etc.

]]> By: Nitesh Dixit http://www.deeshaa.org/2007/04/10/cities_7/comment-page-1/#comment-97206 Nitesh Dixit Tue, 10 Apr 2007 12:18:14 +0000 http://www.deeshaa.org/2007/04/08/cities_7/#comment-97206 Hi Atanu, I have following your series on DeCi and I wanted to make an observation and collect your thoughts on the same. You offer that the reason why a Designer City developed by a private corporation would be better than any planned by the government is owing to the fact that private enterprise is better than public for a whole host of reasons. Specifically, by creating a designer city you estimate that there will be wide boulevards, open spaces, minimal congestion and so forth. As a counter-point I would like to offer-up the Hiranandani (HN) Gardens township in Powai. It is, to my knowledge, a whole private development where the land has been acquired by the HN Group and has been developed for residential and commercial (service) purposes. I have been a resident of powai for the past 7 years and I have seen the township come up from a small scale affair of so many 7 story constructions to the development today when there are several 25-30 story apartments, with the latest being built with 4-5 bedrooms only. Along with that, the HN business park has been established in the same area employing thousands of people in outsourcing and other services industries. The office of Deloitte Consulting, Lehman Brothers are in these buildings. Along with these offices and residences a number of auxiliary services are also provided. There are D'Mart and Haiko as supermarkets in the area, nightclubs, shopping arcades, entertainment zones - all provided within the complex. And yet the roads are narrow enough that they are already busting at the seems, even when new construction is being done at almost any available space. There are open spaces around the buildings but in comparison to the construction and the population these are minimal. I would concede that the HN, Powai is a very good place to live in within Mumbai and yet, after only 7 years of development the shortages are evident. This when the entire development was done by a private developer who had the vision to provide quality lifestyle and yet a vision that was not far-reaching enough that not sufficient broad roads were built up. My understanding of your idea of a DeCi is an HN complex on a much larger scale. How do you propose that the problems currently being faced by the residents of powai because of the relatively erroneous planning by the HN group be avoided? Regulations, we agree may not be the best solution. And if you propose that such townships would become unpopular once better once are built suffers from the problem that the "solution" is one of 20-30 years in making and does not help in decongesting current spaces. Nitesh PS: My comment maybe a bit dis-joint, I am not used to writing on the small window of the comment screen. Please to pardon. Hi Atanu,

I have following your series on DeCi and I wanted to make an observation and collect your thoughts on the same. You offer that the reason why a Designer City developed by a private corporation would be better than any planned by the government is owing to the fact that private enterprise is better than public for a whole host of reasons. Specifically, by creating a designer city you estimate that there will be wide boulevards, open spaces, minimal congestion and so forth. As a counter-point I would like to offer-up the Hiranandani (HN) Gardens township in Powai. It is, to my knowledge, a whole private development where the land has been acquired by the HN Group and has been developed for residential and commercial (service) purposes. I have been a resident of powai for the past 7 years and I have seen the township come up from a small scale affair of so many 7 story constructions to the development today when there are several 25-30 story apartments, with the latest being built with 4-5 bedrooms only. Along with that, the HN business park has been established in the same area employing thousands of people in outsourcing and other services industries. The office of Deloitte Consulting, Lehman Brothers are in these buildings.

Along with these offices and residences a number of auxiliary services are also provided. There are D’Mart and Haiko as supermarkets in the area, nightclubs, shopping arcades, entertainment zones – all provided within the complex. And yet the roads are narrow enough that they are already busting at the seems, even when new construction is being done at almost any available space. There are open spaces around the buildings but in comparison to the construction and the population these are minimal. I would concede that the HN, Powai is a very good place to live in within Mumbai and yet, after only 7 years of development the shortages are evident. This when the entire development was done by a private developer who had the vision to provide quality lifestyle and yet a vision that was not far-reaching enough that not sufficient broad roads were built up.

My understanding of your idea of a DeCi is an HN complex on a much larger scale. How do you propose that the problems currently being faced by the residents of powai because of the relatively erroneous planning by the HN group be avoided? Regulations, we agree may not be the best solution. And if you propose that such townships would become unpopular once better once are built suffers from the problem that the “solution” is one of 20-30 years in making and does not help in decongesting current spaces.

Nitesh
PS: My comment maybe a bit dis-joint, I am not used to writing on the small window of the comment screen. Please to pardon.

]]>