Hyderabad’s New Rajiv Gandhi Airport Boosts Real Estate Development in the Area

India’s southern city of Hyderabad, popularly known as the City of Minarets and Pearls, just unveiled the brand new Rajiv Gandhi International airport relatively smoothly on Sunday the 23^rd of March 2008. This new airport boasts of the longest runway in South East Asia and is capable of welcoming new generation aircraft like the Airbus A380. This ritzy new airport is bound to further enhance the image and importance of Hyderabad city which is already an prime hub for the IT and Biotech industries in India.

Apart from its many admirers, this new facility does have its fair share of detractors as some passengers complain about the time it takes to reach the new airport which is located at a distance of 30 kms from the Hyderabad at Shamsabad, compared to the old airport that was located at Begumpet in the heart of the city.

Nevertheless, this new airport is expected to stimulate much new development around it. Already FAB City - India’s first microchip manufacturing facility - is being built on 1,200 acres of land in an area called Tukkuguda which is located in the vicinity of the new airport. When complete, FAB City is expected to provide employment to over 1500,000 people and has thus given a very significant boost to other real estate development in the area as well.

Apart from FAB city and the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, the Government of Hyderabad is also investing in mega infrastructure projects such as the world class Outer Ring Road, Elevated Expressway and the Metro Rail. The Hyderabad Outer Ring Road will be a 159 km long road connecting the areas of Patancheru, Shamsabad, Hayathanagar and Medchal Patancheru and will also provide connectivity to various State and National Highways. This road will relieve much of the congestion on the metropolitan area of Hyderabad and the inner ring road.  The Outer Ring Road is also expected to link the major hubs of activity located outside Hyderabad like the Hi-Tec City, The Indian School of Business, The Hardware Park and the new international airport. It thus expected to give much impetus to the development of many satellite townships in the region.

Banyan Tree Retreat - one of the many new developments around Hyderabad

Real Estate prices around the new Rajiv Gandhi airport have already gone up over 200 times since the airport project was launched in 2005 and every inch of prime land near the airport has been marked for commercial and residential real estate projects. One of these prominent residential projects is Banyan Tree Retreat, a development being promoted by a Hyderabad based developer called M.A.K. Projects.

The Banyan Tree Retreat is being built over 64 wooded acres in the heart of Hyderabad’s emerging Knowledge City on Srisailam Road, which is located in close proximity to the proposed Outer Ring Road and the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. Banyan Tree Retreat is a mixed use development of residential villas and apartments, a club house, recreational facilities and commercial buildings which is being built as a secure gated community. This development is aimed at airport employees, techies and non resident Indians and is being designed by the world renowned Malaysian architectural firm SA Architects Sdn. Bhd., which has a network of associate offices in other Asian cities in Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and China.

Banyan Tree Retreat offers several common amenities for its residents, including landscaped gardens, a jogging track, a polyclinic, a club house with an air-conditioned gym, a spa, tennis court, swimming pool, library, party hall, children’s recreation zone, wireless internet coverage and guest rooms. The development has other common maintenance facilities as well, such as a water treatment plant, generator back-up, underground cabling, solar fencing, a sewage treatment plant, round the clock security and an intercom facility. This project is due to be completed in 2009 and the prices of the villas which are being offered for sale currently range from Rs.98,00,000 ($244,694) to Rs.1,32,00,000 ($329,500).

M.A.K. Projects have just announced another high rise development in Hyderabad, also to be developed near the Rajiv Gandhi International airport, in a joint venture with Malaysia’s Sunway City Berhad, which is part of the US$1 billion Malaysian Sunway Group. This venture will develop two million sq ft of residential space in the proposed high rise which will have units that range from 1000 to 1300 sq feet.

These two developments are just a couple of the many real estate projects that have sprung up in the wake of the construction of Hyderabad’s new Rajiv Gandhi international airport, and this area is well worth watching if you are looking to invest in new build property in India.

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