Govt’s Shift In Focus From Look East To Future City Irks Hyd’s Developers

Hyderabad: Cyberabad (West Hyderabad) has developed and is further developing to the extent its civic infrastructure reels under pressure. Is government’s move to auction 400 acres of land in Kancha Gachibowli belonging to the University of Hyderabad, and scrap unlimited FSI, the solution? Why is the current Congress government investing in its ambitious Future City project, which is far beyond Outer Ring Road (ORR) instead of further developing neglected pockets in East Hyderabad? How successful will Future City be while areas within ORR haven’t been able to gain similar traction as West Hyderabad…question the city’s developers. The Look East Policy was introduced by the erstwhile BRS government to develop an IT corridor in the eastern part of the city, and GRID Policy introduced in 2020 aimed to convert industrial parks into IT Parks.

Speaking on the snag the policy’s fruitful implementation faced at the ground-level, Shekar Reddy, National Vice Chairman, Indian Green Building Council, told Bizz Buzz: “The land owners of industrial parks were asked to pay upfront 30 per cent fee to convert the estate into 50 per cent each - IT and residential development. The conversion fee is not the only issue, along with this 30 per cent fee the land owner or the developer partner has to bear the cost of building permission and impact fee, which sums up to a huge amount.”

To realise the policy’s benefit, Reddy urged the government to consider installment payment of conversion fee that has to be borne by the land owner or their developer partner.

Stating the second reason for the failure of the policy, Reddy pointed out the absence of IT demand in East when compared to West Hyderabad. He said, “Look East or North Policy will be a success if practical issues are taken into consideration. The demand of the end user has to be kept in mind while developing and selling here. These industrial estates are surrounded by metro station and social infrastructure. The conversion of industrial estates located within ORR should not be restricted to IT only, instead it should be multi-use option, and the choice should be open to the developer.”

Moreover, developers find that standard civic infrastructure developed to attract investment in Western pockets is lacking in eastern part of the city.

“After formation of Telangana, every government said they are competing with the world but when it comes to infrastructure they claim to be better than Chennai, Bangalore. When we want to compete internationally the government should take into consideration what is available or not in Hyderabad compared to international countries,” President of NAREDCO Telangana, Vijaya Sai Meka said during a panel discussion.

When many locations within ORR yet remain untapped due to lack of civic infrastructure, the developers dread the future of their investments and projects with the governments focus on its pet project, the Future City, set to be developed on the Southern side of the city.

V Rajashekar Reddy, President, CREDAI-Hyderabad, said: “We welcome the Future City project. However, I would like to bring to your notice that South West and North West occupies 75 per cent of the inventory while North and East Hyderabad has only 10 per cent of property inventory. The government has to first think why people are not going towards North or East, which is within city limits. How can we imagine people moving to Future City which is very far away?”

Does the ruling government want the Future City project to be a feather in its cap? But, Cyberabad took two decades to develop, making an announcement only will not work, Rajashekar Reddy reiterated, adding that during a property show he had suggested the government to first create opportunities like convention centres, hospitality, and IT companies, for East Hyderabad to develop, which hasn’t been looked into.

“The government has to focus on the present infrastructure growth of the city instead of talking about the future. Why are people investing in North Western part? What is lacking in East? Any kind of development will follow after means of employment generation is created there. In the present scenario, the government should first address growth upto ORR,” Reddy added.