What started with a controversial 1.5-km modern flyover in the busiest Sitabuldi area of the city some ten years ago, is now fast shaping up into a hurricane of development.

At the centre of it all is a Rs 3,000-crore Multimodal International Hub Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) that will feed a Rs 10,000-crore Special Economic Zone. IT leaders like Satyam, L&T Infocity and Shapoorji Pallonji have already bought over 250 acres in MIHAN’s proposed SEZ. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and General Electric teams too are visiting soon.

‘‘Clearly, with its immense talent pool, Nagpur is the next infotech destination of India and more and more international companies will come here,’’ says Induslogic CEO Peter Harrison. US-based Induslogic recently merged Lambent Technolgies, a Nagpur-based I-T company, into itself.

About 1,500 of the required 3,500 hectares have already been acquired for MIHAN. An international school is coming up soon, an ultramodern airport with a capacity to handle 10,000 people has been envisaged and a 100-MW captive power plant is set to come up. Banks have lined up funds, with over Rs 300 crore already being contributed to MIHAN’s infrastructure kitty.

The real estate business has taken a huge leap. ‘‘Outside the city precincts on Wardha Road, along which MIHAN is coming up, the price of land a year ago was Rs 30 lakh per acre. It has now doubled and you have no land to buy now even for Rs 60 lakh,’’ says Balbir Singh Renu, president of Nag-Vidarbha Builders’ Association. And, in tony city areas like Civil Lines, Ramdaspeth and Shankar Nagpur, the going rate is Rs 60 lakh for a 2,500-sq ft flat, at a whopping Rs 2,500 per sq ft.

The first international flight started here last year when Air Arabia launched its Nagpur-Sharjah flight. The overwhelming response from entire central India forced the company to change the thrice-a-week no-frills schedule to all weekdays. Last week, the Indian Airlines started its own international flight from here to Bangkok.

But the real booster came recently when Boeing chose it for its proposed about Rs 500-crore Maintenance, Repairs and Overhaul (MRO) facility. For a city that carried the tag of backwardness for many decades, Boeing meant a giant leap, literally.

Vidarbha’s own, Union Aviation Minister Praful Patel has helped MIHAN in a big way by bringing more flights to Nagpur. ‘‘Many big announcements are likely to follow in the remaining year,’’ he assures. ‘‘Our attempt would be to connect Nagpur to all major cities of the country. We have included National Cargo Hub in the new aviation policy due to be announced soon,’’ he says.

The man in MIHAN’s charge is R. C. Sinha, who carried along with him the reputation as the go-getter CEO of the Mumbai-Pune Highway.

The main idea is to bring and redistribute cargo and passengers from destinations all over the world.

Already, Container Corporation of India’s inland depot at Nagpur is the fastest -rowing inland port in the country.

‘‘After the Boeing announcement, I have been flooded with inquiries from all over the world. TNT, Europe’s transport giant, have approached us to explore the possibility of setting up their base,’’ says Sinha.

What goes in Nagpur’s favour is its central location—over 400 international flights pass daily over its skies, making Nagpur Air Traffic Control (ATR) the busiest in the country. Moreover, it is at the confluence of two major National Highways Kanyakumari-Varanasi (no 7) and Hawrah-Dhule (no 6) and all east-west and north-south railway lines.