PDF: 2962 pages, 5.2 MB - Bay Area Council Economic Institute

Global Reach
Nanocity is now in the phase of land acquisition in 500-acre increments.
The government has supported the project by ruling that
each increment be treated as of equal value. Sellers may cooperate
or not, plots may vary in price, but the similar 500-acre parcels
ultimately have the same assessed value. This puts pressure on
owners to negotiate and sell early to get the best price. “Anything
to do with land acquisition takes time,” Bhatia explains. “You put
out an offer; it takes a few months to complete a purchase. Anything
to do with physical infrastructure is a slow process. It’s not
like writing software; it takes years.”
So far, the Nanocity developers have acquired one 500-acre unit
and hope to break ground soon on a scaled-down Phase 1 development
involving a self-contained activity such as an education institution,
with supporting mixed-use development around it, to start
building critical mass as acquisition progresses. The economic
slowdown in both India and the U.S has impacted development
plans, with expected financing by Indian banks put on hold, but
Bhatia says a more extended timeframe won’t derail the vision. His
hope is that Nanocity will serve as a model to get governments and
developers in India to think more creatively about planning. “If you
look at the development that’s taken place in Gugaon, Mumbai,
and the outskirts of Delhi, a lot of the planning has been haphazard—done
like an afterthought,” he says. “India must start planning
for future growth; there’s not a single city in the whole country with
even the most basic modern road system, water and sewage system,
or electrical power supply. If we address these issues in one
place, hopefully people can learn from it.”
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