Coming Soon: Pune, a Metropolitan City

By Ubaid Parkar

Pune is on its way of becoming a major metropolitan city. It has become an ideal destination for the educated class and major IT companies and industries. It has a few cracks to be mended but may soon be a major economic competition for Mumbai.

Pune is among the top ten largest cities in India. And with a distance of only a mere four hours away from a major city like Mumbai, it is currently a pseudo-metropolitan city for the time being at least. Mumbai’s ad-hoc arrangements for its besetting problems and other issues in its axis are taking away the gleam of the city and Pune may just be the answer to Mumbai’s problems.

Pune is reliant on the Service sector. It attracts the cream of the IT crowd. Industries are also prevalent there and major ones at that. Tata’s automotive plant is based there and so is the Bajaj. Even the cream of the automobiles, Mercedes has a plant there. Pune’s prime income generators are the Auto and the Services industry. In fact it has been labeled as India’s “Motor City” drawing parallels to Detroit’s similar reliance on the automotive sector.

Central Pune has issues with transportation and commuting is a pain. This has been attributed to the area’s rapid development amd consequently sources most of the traffic in the region. Say Irum Khan, a former resident of Pune, “The roads built there are better than Mumbai. But over the last four years or so there has been too much traffic congestion. The last time I visited it took me two hours to cross a distance of half a kilometer”

Pune is tackling that issue as well. Pune Metro is on the cards undertaken by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in 2007. The project is expected to be commissioned by 2013. Pune’s infrastructure developments are on similar lines of Mumbai. Mumbai is coming up with its own Metro project. But in relation to where Pune stands, Mumbai has it going on a bit too late. Recent reports of bottleneck areas and rain-resultant pot holes have made the BMC look lacking in its services.

Crawling with congestion, Hinjewadi, for instance, located near the Express Highway in the Western region of Pune is on the verge of new developments. Magarpatta, in the East is a highly renowned and developed IT region. These over the years are expected to ease the pressures off from the Central region of Pune. Says Amit Kothari of the Pride Purple Group, “There is no land available in Central Pune. Developments are expanding over other territories in Pune.”

Ajith Mathew, a resident of Kothrud, has optimistic views of the city. “Geographically it has space to expand. It is an education center which always helps. The infrastructure is good as well. It is a new economy.” He does admit to some negatives as well. “Vehicular pollution is very high there. Most of the people rely on two-wheelers which adds to the burden but conversely the industries are not heavy pollutants” he added.

Pune is cleaner than Mumbai and greener too. Developers swear by the IT and infrastructure developments in the region. Mahesh Sharma of M&S Associates who are in the realty sector says, “The autocluster generates a lot of employment. We have seen massive surges in Pimpri-Chinchwad and Chakan areas in this regard. The IT/ITES also paint a bright future. Coming to property prices, it will always depend on the demand-supply factor. Redevelopment is not a trend at the moment as MHADA is not the same weight as in Mumbai.”

Property rates have increased four-fold over a seven year period in certain areas but are still very affordable at current rates. The value Pune holds is a demographic shift of not only corporates but also the educated population which help in economic productivity.

Pune has its fair share of problems. Power is an issue of sorts and many buildings, societies and organizations have a generator of their own for back up power. Fareed Rangooni, a resident of Fatima Nagar sarcastically opines, “Pune seems to be eco-conscious as the streets lights are very dim, almost redundant.” Pune residents have been almost invisibly accepting load shedding almost on a daily basis. “I mean opening up an ice-cream store will not be viable”, Fareed adds satirically.

“Pune would shed most of its problems in five years. It has a brilliant future.” says Mahesh Sharma. A view that has been cemented by others in the real estate sector. Amit Kothari affirms, “It may take ten years for Pune to be classified as a metropolitan city. But it will happen.”