Largest foreign bucks for NRI City
If it happens as proposed, it will be one of India's largest foreign direct investment projects and Asia's largest new city development to date.
BANGALORE — If it happens as proposed, it will be one of India's largest foreign direct investment projects and Asia's largest new city development to date. And it could change the face and image of Bangalore.
We are talking about Jagdish Tytler's NRI City — or, as its promoters call it, Royal Garden City. As per plans by US-based promoter Royal Indian Raj International Corporation (RIRIC), the city will be built at a cost of $2.95 billion (approx. Rs 13,800 crore) and have a retail value of $8.9 billion (approx. Rs 41,400 crore).
Construction of the city — situated approximately 20 km from Bangalore in the direction of the proposed Devanahalli international airport — is scheduled to commence in early 2005 and is expected to be completed in phases by 2015.
According to a RIRIC release announcing the appointment of Jones Lang LaSalle as real estate adviser, the Bangalore project will have 35,000 residential units, a central business district, industrial district, entertainment district, parks, restaurants, shopping, educational facilities, and civic amenities. An estimated 300,000 to 500,000 people are expected to live, work and play daily within the 3,000-acre city. It is expected to be a modern "smart city" — completely Web-enabled and built with the latest technologies.
RIRIC officials, including Chairman Manoj Benjamin — a Canadian of Indian origin — are currently in Delhi in discussions with Tytler, the Union minister for NRIs. Three other similar development projects by RIRIC are slated for 2006/2007 in Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata.