Vision of Life; by Sanjay: Real Estate, Pune & New Year 2024!

“If you're reading this...

Congratulations, you're alive.
If that's not something to smile about,
then I don't know what is.” … Chad Sugg

Chad is an American singer-songwriter, above are the words from his one of the songs welcoming New Year & no wonder a song-writer only can make you realize importance of every moment ahead in life & our attitude towards it! Speaking about real estate (read as in Pune) the developers (builders) actually should digest this philosophy as every day you survive is a reason to celebrate & if you are smirking or frowning then let me tell you, it’s not joke & not sarcasm but sheer fact about the way real estate business is being run or say needed to be run! Though real estate has glamour (and money too) & most businesses, professionals want to become a builder at some juncture of their career but let me tell you there is a famous phrase in Marathi, “marutichya bembit boat ghatala ki garach lagata” & with due respect it can be compared to its English version as, “the grass looks always greener on the other side”! In the nut-shell, to all those aspirant builders, I will tell be cautious if you want to become a builder, especially in Pune & it’s not because I am afraid of competition or am jealous of new entrants in real estate but am concerned for real estate & its players!

I have been asked many a times about scene of real estate & especially at the start of New Year this question is popped up more often thinking the new start will do some more wonders for real estate & this time you are not wrong! Let me tell you, real estate has got super great future in Pune is what the latest history tells to us & I am not saying this because I am a builder but I am a resident of this city (for now) & has some thinking brain left which works a bit even after working for thirty years as a builder! As looking at growth pattern of this city (read as Pune region hereafter) land is second most thing in demand as the first thing in demand is some space on road while you drive (but again its land actually) your car or two-wheeler to your destination & that’s one sure indication of real estate’s bright future. Just two decades back when I used to travel to my home town in Vidarbha via Nagar Road then after Aga khan palace the city used to end & look at now, you don’t even notice when this iconic structure you leave behind. Same is the scene on all the directions of the city, thankfully towards Mumbai there is range of mountain or else by now we would have got merged in Mumbai, physically for sure. Best example is of Pimpri Chinchwad as in my college days, Kahdaki-Daopodi was the term to tag someone as below par & so was Dhankawadi (well, all these are suburbs of Pune which were considered as outside of the city) & now they all have become centres of respective localities. You can’t even differentiate while travelling towards Mumbai that when you leave behind Pune i.e. PMC & enter in Pimpri Chinchwad i.e. PCMC. Just few years back a die-hard Punekar wouldn’t have accepted a person residing at Hadapsar as Punekar in the first place & now the township in that location is Pride of Pune, what all such changes indicates but importance of growth of real estate in Pune, right?

And then not just from other parts of Maharashtra State but from all over the Central India, people (mainly youngsters) are getting attracted to Pune the way entire Mexico & South American continent (and Europe too) gets attracted to USA. In a way Pune offers many Indian families the Great Urban Dream just the way USA offers to people all over the world The Great American Dream, which is nothing but a better life than what they are having at their respective native places! Pune is offering people jobs, education & when these two things are taken care then the third one is culture i.e. social life, making Pune a complete package for your home! Well, this all you have read or knew or may think what else can be expected from the builder & you are not wrong, but what my sharing is about, is not just how bright (and why) future of real estate in Pune is but the challenges ahead, as every brightens has edge of darkness (this is Marvel’s quote not mine) & Pune’s dark border is its crumpling infrastructure & lack of vision & absence of a leader who will take this ship ahead without sinking, my sharing is about this aspect of real estate! As a city can grow to a certain level just the way a body-builder can make his muscles flex to extreme but what if the skin or heart of the body doesn’t support the pumping of muscles, the body will give up & collapse, right? Same thing happens with cities which don’t brace themselves with proper & right infrastructure in time along with the demand of housing & commercial spaces, which is what we are witnessing with Pune & for that we ned radical changes in the system which governs real estate!

Recently I came across interview of a very able officer in PMC who pointed out the need of funds to acquire the lands which are like raw material for infrastructure such as roads, playgrounds, gardens & many more & on that front public bodies are always short of funds. And why just fund-flow, even man-power front too, as imagine PMC has nearly 400 plus sq km area under its jurisdiction & building permission (read as control) dept has hardly some five hundred engineers with it & this too is exaggerated figure. A builder with eight or ten projects also has hundred plus staff with him to control his projects & we expect PMC can control the city growth in right way with such megere staff, whom we are fooling to! Outcome is, right from making development plan to creating infrastructure in time to controlling illegal buildings, everywhere the public bodies (not just PMC) are failing in their job & that is direct threat to real estate because a bad city is the last choice of any person to reside & even Pune won’t be exception to this law of social living! Today, we are facing water problems, traffic problems, garbage problems, on any day you go for booking for railway or bus for your native place it says full, such is the scene of infra here! And airport is main reason for lesser connectivity to other cities & the countries which makes many MNCs’ refrain from having their head-quarter here & public health as well education & housing for the poor is a big concern & yet the real estate (read as homes) is in demand in Pune, just because people don’t have a better option to live than Pune, is a sad fact!

This is the real challenge in-front of the real estate in Pune as high time to club or have a joint administrative authority for development of Pune as a region the way we have MMRDA in Mumbai because or else the city has become like body of a body-builder who exercises only of biceps or thighs muscles & that part get toned while rest of the body looks malnourished; that is abnormal growth or not a sign of perfect healthy body which at present Pune has become! And on top of it, we must make policies which will accommodate growth of real estate as that doesn’t mean just profit for the builders but it means a good home for everybody at affordable price as per his & her earnings! Unfortunately, making right or good policies of real estate has been always considered as beneficial only for the builders but how the business (any business) will survive if the businessmen won’t make some money out of it is my first question & second is has the govt got capacity to make homes available for all on its own, is my second question! Whereas making right or good policies for Automobile or IT Industry is welcomed by everybody (even by media) but when same is expected for real estate then it tagged as beneficial for the builders only, ye baat kuch hajam nahi huai & in the process we are destructing entire city, is we are ignoring! The illegal building increasing along with numbers of youth turning to crime is directly sign of deterioration of the city’s urban planning as well alarming sign for real estate & high time our govt must have a look & action plan for it!

Despite all such things we are way ahead of creating jobs for millions & on many fronts where private participation is there, education & public health is one such! We can take help of CSR as well Corporate Funds for acquisition of the reservation lands as well ease our TDR process, which will help entire city on infrastructure front. To make this happen we need our public bodies’ as well various governing govt (and private) depts’ to keep our egos’ aside & come together for a stronger & right development of Pune which can be called as growth & not just ageing! And for that we must have a leadership which will think for Pune as a region & not look at it as just a money earning machine or loves only some part of it, which is the biggest challenge in-front of Pune’s real estate & is soul of my sharing for the New year! Barring this, as the song says, “Baki sub first-class hai, kasamse,” adios with this note!

Sanjay Deshpande

smd156812@gmail.com

Sanjeevani Dev.

Please view my sharing about finding a Right Home/ Office in Pune, at YouTube link below & share if liked...

https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345

Please do visit my blog links below to read about real estate & home buying!

https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2023/01/defining-good-home-real-estate-in-2023.html

http://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2023/02/blog-post.html

Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345

For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below

www.punecorporation.org

Take your issues to Hon PM at link below...

https://secure.mygov.in/

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