Growth and expansion of Kolkata: Rajarhat-New Town is Kolkata’s future

How do you perceive Kolkata’s growth in the future?

Kolkata has seen a booming growth in the eastern fringes of the city with Rajarhat, also known as New Town, as one of the significant real estate destinations in the metropolis today.

The eastern micro market of Kolkata is the epitome of systematic, planned and focused residential and commercial real estate development. With the backing of state of the art civic infrastructure like wide roads and flyovers, the Township has been on the radar of developers and buyers alike. Aimed to be developed as an IT hub, the region is undergoing immense growth with a number of construction projects currently underway. The forthcoming IT parks shall attract a lot of working professionals and renting out of apartments is going to be an equally lucrative option. Dubbed as ‘super city’, New Town will have e-health clinics, intelligent power-saving LED streetlights with panic buttons, multi-nodal transport hub, cycling tracks, new amusement hubs, solar panels, water treatment plants, ensuring a good quality of life.

The technology-enabled residential hub’s master plan has a township that is bigger than planned Salt Lake City. Also, The New Town has a 10.5 km of Wi-Fi Zone connecting the Main Arterial Road to the airport on one stretch and to Sector V on the other. This also makes it India's first Wi-Fi road connectivity. The stretch has  been declared as a green corridor.

Many professionals have started here as the township also houses IT majors such as TCS and Wipro. Kolkata New Town also has renowned schools, which is another plus point for buyers.

With a range of serious buyers ready to put their money into real estate, many developers are coming up in the area, providing luxury housing experience. One of them is Tata Housing, which has done a thorough study about the demand and consumer aspiration.

Affordability is redefining the realty market of Kolkata. Rajarhat-New Town is rapidly growing as a satellite city.

The locality has been counted among one of the proposed areas to be developed as a Smart Green City under the government's Smart Cities Mission project. The presence of multi-specialty hospitals, private clubs, shopping malls, family parks, supermarkets, 5-star hotels, spas, cultural centers, etc., ensure that the lifestyle needs of the residents are met. New Town is expected to receive its first e-health center, which will be equipped with world-class facilities.

Why Ascon Infrastructure (India) Ltd chose Rajarhat-New Town for its expansion plans?

There are several factors which made us concentrate on the Rajarhat-New Town belt and we felt that this is right place to expand and some of the factors include -

A quiet neighborhood : This area, being newly settled and newly constructed, has scarce traffic rush, political rallies on roads, etc.

Regular beautification: This is the most beautiful part of the city.

Forthcoming IT hub: CM Mamta Banerjee has formally inaugurated the prestigious “Silicon Valley Hub”.

Appreciation value of real estate: Real estate values are soaring up due to the increasing IT growth and center's projects flooding in.

Connectivity of Rajarhat-New Town:  The area possesses a good transport system connected through major arterial roads and state highways. There is availability of public transportation like AC/ non-AC government and private buses, taxis, App based cab service, auto rickshaws and e-rickshaws. It is in close proximity to NSCI Airport (approximately 10 kilometers).

Projects which had come to a halt owing to illegal settlements have resumed. A proposal for the Rs. 4,500 crore New Garia airport project has been made. It will soon be connected by under the East-West Metro project led by the state government. Country's first underwater metro tunnel, the first phase of the East West Metro will be operational soon.

What are the infrastructural advantages?

Rajarhat New Town has secured a place for itself in the second list of 13 cities chosen to receive funding under the Smart City Mission. Some key features include e-health clinics, intelligent streetlights with panic buttons, cycling tracks, multi-nodal transport hub, GPS-enabled e-transport and bus stops, solar panels in parks and playgrounds, new water treatment plants. The planned township today is home to many, who are experiencing the smooth life with fast traffic, clean environment, and a community of like-minded people. Apart from residential complexes, New Town features state-of-the-art commercial properties, convention centers, business parks, clubs and a central business district occupied by top-notch multinational companies.

Prestigious schools, colleges, universities are either already operational or coming up soon; an educational hub is being created by the state government with a land bank of 150 acres for 30 premium institutes to set up their campuses in different parts of the township. While Presidency University, St Xavier’s University, Rabindra Bharati University are coming up with their second campuses, Aliah University and Techno India are operational.

Not just educational institutes. The integrated city houses Tata Medical Centre, a reputed cancer research organisation; shopping destinations like City Centre II, Central Mall, Axis Mall, and DLF Galleria; and two posh hotels, Novotel and Westin. Intelligent power-saving LED streetlights with panic buttons, solar panels, water treatment plants, multi-nodal transport hub, e-health clinics, modern art museum, cycling tracks, cultural centers, and a 480-acre eco-park are part of life in New Town Rajarhat. The government of West Bengal nodal body HIDCO is preparing a plan to develop an 8-acre car park in the central business district (CBD) of New Town.

What are the future trends?

With the government's affordable housing programme picking up pace, the future seems promising for the locality and experts assure that there is a vast scope for price appreciation in the near future. The area is also garnering attention from the NRI community owing to the availability of various options like plots, office spaces and residential units.

The growth of the real estate market has been very steady despite lean times and development of this locality is on a continuous process. In addition to many other reasons, the geographic location is also strategic. On one side lies the developed VIP Road along with Airport in the vicinity. On the other, Salt Lake Sector V prospers as the new office hub. Hence, there may be a delay due to multiple factors; however future development cannot be evaded at all.

Moreover, the area already has everything that is required for meeting daily necessities. Whether it’s educational institutions, medical facilities, shopping malls, road connectivity, air connectivity, upcoming metro connectivity, you find them all. This can be termed as “a city within a city”. Therefore it is imminent that prices of a flat in New Town Rajarhat will see a significant uptrend in the coming days. Buyers will experience improvement in the livability quotient, and early movers will reap the benefits of capital appreciation in due course of time.

The huge infrastructural improvements and setting up of social amenities have contributed towards making it a great bet for investors. Experts state that Rajarhat offers cheaper land along with excellent supporting infrastructure. Proximity to the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport is also a major plus point. Barrackpore and Sodepur on the northern fringes are steadily turning into real estate hotspots, New Town and Rajarhat are prominent eastern localities. Barasat is also holding its own in the northern fringes of the city or Greater Kolkata.

New Town and Rajarhat have several townships that are well-planned with several commercial zones, schools, hospitals and shopping zones. The IT hub is also shifting to Rajarhat steadily and this makes it a great option for elderly people who wish to stay away from the hustle and bustle of the city and for young professionals who want proximity to their offices and a more peaceful life.

What about the presence of Ascon Infrastructure (India) Ltd in Rajarhat?

Ascon Infrastructure (India) Ltd’s presence in Rajarhat has not only been extremely rewarding and satisfying but from our customers or patrons point of view too we can proudly claim that after completion and handing of our first project Shree Tower VII with 75 flats, we have 100% complaint free status in terms of quality of construction and after sales service.

Our present ongoing project is ASCON ERA, consisting of 5 blocks of 2/3/4 BHK (B+G+10) storied buildings having 253 apartments from 612 sq ft-1162 sq ft sizes with earthquake resistant designs and also a commercial space of approximately 20000 sq.ft which we plan to hand over possession by December 2020.