BUT while MIHAN—or more precisely, the SEZ—is piloting Nagpur’s big overhaul, there is a parallel civic inventiveness attempting to sustain that growth, readying for the pressure on the city’s infrastructure.

A Rs 5,894-cr five-year investment plan is detailed in Nagpur’s City Development Plan, submitted under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Incidentally, Nagpur was the first city in the country to receive funds under JNNURM. For transportation, there is a 30-year masterplan for roads, foot overbridges and road overbridges, says Municipal Commissioner Lokesh Chandra. A detailed project report on two proposed Bus Rapid Transit Projects along 40 km is being drawn up for submission under JNNURM and a German joint venture firm has proposed a monorail. “Already, the City Bus service has been started as a unique PPP initiative, with 200 brand new buses ferrying commuters within the city,” says Chandra. There are a series of other initiatives—six shopping malls on BOT basis, a GIS mapping underway for property tax assessment and a pilot project by for 24 x 7 water supply.

All this means real estate is suddenly a speculative market, with prices ranging from Rs 1,500 per sq ft to Rs 5,000 per sq ft, unheard of a year ago. Served by NH-7 and NH-6, it seems that Nagpur’s central location is finally getting its due. Not long ago, a Bombay High Court judge sold his 41-acre plot abutting the Nagpur-Wardha Road and the MIHAN and SEZ areas for Rs 105 crore, a whopping Rs 2.5-crore per acre. The buyer was garment major Provogue group-promoted Hagwood Commercial Developers, expected to build a township on the land.

... contd.