So far, yet so near — a case of shifting boundaries
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Being close to Kochi city, parts of Alappuzha district are witnessing a real estate boom. DENNIS MARCUS MATHEW looks at the scene in places such as Aroor, Pattanakad and Cherthala.
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— Photo: K.K. Mustafah
Idyllic scene: Picture postcard scenes have made Alappuzha famous for its scenic beauty.
Is it the growth of a city that fuels its construction industry or is it the other way around? Or are they complementary? The instance of Kochi, which is seeing its suburban boundaries being redefined and extended by the day, can tell us something about this.
With the port city groaning under the weight of the countless apartment complexes coming up all over, areas once seen as “far-flung” have become “neighbouring” now. The advent of new industries, particularly information technology parks, in the city and outside has fuelled this delimitation.
Aroor, Pattanakad and Cherthala, south of Kochi, are now being branded “quite close” to Vytilla in the city, what with property developers moving on to these new pastures to set up villas, apartments and townships, all with an eye on the local population as well as newcomers to Kochi, non-resident Indians and to some extent, North Indians interested in investing in the real estate sector.
Aroor, Pattanakad and Cherthala fall in Alappuzha district, in geographic terms. But the foresight of whoever thought of laying National Highway 47 has made the district boundaries fade.
The highway, which offers quite a smooth ride once out of the city, has given advertisers captions such as “a mere 20 km from Kochi,” or “just 30 minutes from Kochi” for their real estate clients.
Whatsoever it maybe, the real estate dealer is chuckling. For him, a cent (100 cents = 1 acre) of land close to the highway in Cherthala, which would have gone for less than Rs.50,000-Rs.70,000 two years ago, now goes for over a couple of lakhs. Plots in Aroor, nearest to Vytilla, are said to have price tags of around Rs.5 lakh a cent. Even interior areas such as Poochakal are riding on the boom on the highway side and plots here command at least Rs. 1 lakh a cent, provided there is a decent road to them.
IT parks
Property developers are buoyed by the announcement of two IT parks in Alappuzha — at Pallipuram, near Cherthala, and Purakkad, near Ambalapuzha. Prominent developers are already getting on with major projects around Cherthala.
One of the first was GJ Properties, which is progressing with the GJ Gardens project, around 400 metres from the highway, at Pattanakad.
The firm’s officials say more than half of its villas have been booked, though construction is yet to be over.
The three-bedroom villas will be of 2,451 square feet (Rs.61 lakhs), 2,114 sq. ft (Rs.52 lakh), 2,064 sq. ft (Rs.51 lakh) and 1,642 sq. ft (Rs.41 lakh).
The second major project that has been announced recently is the “New Kochi, the Real Metro” project of Apple A Day Properties Private Ltd. The company’s officials say the project, which will be a “totally planned waterfront residential township,” is “just 20 km from Vytilla, 10 km along Aroor Temple Road.”
“Waterfront properties have been hot on the real estate radar, and in that sense, areas such as Cherthala, Aroor and Alappuzha have the real potential to become hotspots,” says K. Pavithran, a real estate agent based in Cherthala.
Cherthala, with its geographical features, is already becoming the next major stop after Kochi. With work on the IT park here expected to start around January 2009, realtors here are on the lookout for saleable properties. Cherthala is a little less than 40 km from Kochi, just 22 km from Alappuzha town and around 30 km from Kottayam. While the highway connects Kochi, Cherthala and Alappuzha, the scenic Thanneermukkom Barrage road connects Kottayam to Cherthala.
“The development of Cherthala depends on that of Alappuzha as well. Though we are seeing the growth from the Kochi side helping Cherthala a little bit, a slight push from the district headquarters will go a long way in propelling Cherthala towards newer heights,” feels P.P. John, a member of the Builders’ Association of India, Alappuzha chapter.
For Cherthala, it may be the magnanimity of Kochi that is helping to gain more in development.
Development of the highway faces some unwanted bumps. For instance, the inordinately delayed conversion of the Vytilla-Aroor stretch into a four-lane road. The irritating block as one enters the Kumbalom-Aroor bridge area, where toll collection slows down traffic, should be solved. Once these are done, 40 km will feel like 20 km and the next thing you know, developers will be heralding Cherthala as “on the suburbs of Kochi.”
No flat culture
Down south, Alappuzha too has a few bottlenecks to straighten out while growing on its own and helping Cherthala grow. Now, there are no apartment complexes in Alappuzha.
The flat culture has kept away from the tourist town, allegedly owing to labour-related issues in the construction industry.
Mr. John says properties near the beach can be used to set up a few flats, if not for regular use, at least to rent out to tourists.
More resorts and home-stays can come up on the beachfront, where there are only a few now. However, investors shy away when the name Alappuzha crops up in business talks.
The labour charges in Alappuzha are Rs.350 to Rs.400 a day when in other districts, the maximum is Rs.250-Rs.300.
It was all right if the labourers are the only ones to be paid, say contractors here. Trade unions and their ‘conveners’ have to be paid daily wages, called ‘nokkukkooli” in Malayalam. “Pay for no work, that is,” says a contractor. With the Communist Party of India (Marxist) now taking a strong stand against the trend of pay for no work, contractors are hoping an end to such practices.
These have affected the town’s development in other ways. Development works, including those on major thoroughfares, crucial lanes and bylanes, drainage projects, repair and maintenance of regular roads and so on have taken a backseat for several years now. Twenty-three works, estimated at a total of Rs.22 crore, are lying in cold storage with no contractors ready to take them up. Most of these works were given administrative sanction in 2006, says K.C. Venugopal, Alappuzha MLA.
Fearing the threat of unions, contractors are demanding 80 to 85 per cent above the estimate for these works, while the Finance Department does not allow any tender excess above 20 per cent of the initial estimate.
Once these issues are sorted out, property developers expect a sea change in the construction industry of Alappuzha district, and then, projects such as GJ Gardens and New Kochi can have counterparts in the town of canals. Till then, those in Alappuzha can watch Cherthala grow in the shade of Kochi.
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