Yamuna Expressway: options aplenty, prices within reach

The six-lane, 165 kilometre long Yamuna Expressway, which was opened last week connects Greater Noida with Agra and passes through Aligarh and Mathura districts of Uttar Pradesh. For the last couple of years, the Yamuna Expressway has emerged as a booming real estate investment destination. This is due to some fundamental factors such as increasing industrialisation of Greater Noida and the presence of a large number of educational institutions there, proximity to the DMIC (Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor) etc. However, the hype was around proposed projects along the Expressway: i.e. the international airport, night safari, Formula 1, townships etc.

India had the first successful Formula 1 race last year. Developers were smart to cash-in on this event, and the plotted development along the expressway witnessed a price increase of almost 50-70 per cent. This increase in prices has been arrested in recent months, partly due to cancellation of the Taj International Aviation Hub at Jewar and also the concurrent emergence of investment corridors along the Dwarka Expressway, Manesar, Meerut, NH-24, Sonepat, Sohna, Bhiwadi and Daruhera.

The main idea of developing the aviation hub was to boost industrial development in the region, increase tourism, growth in hospitality sector, SEZ exports, agriculture exports etc. Many of the five star hotels, which were planned along the Yamuna Expressway are now unlikely to come-up any time soon. The airport would have given boost to business and would have helped to avoid double taxation in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Hopes, however, are alive. The new location for the airport is proposed between Agra and Mathura in the vicinity of the expressway.

After the Noida Extension agitation, land acquisition has become a big challenge along the Yamuna Expressway. Farmers are demanding toll-free movement on the expressway, increased compensation and a 10 per cent share in developed land (instead of 7 per cent). There are wide-ranging speculations in the market that it will be very difficult for the authorities to acquire land.

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