HCC Real Estate Ltd (HCCREL), the real estate arm of construction major Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), is in the process of entering into large size land deals. The plots, aggregating 1,550 acres in various parts of India, will be used to develop townships.
HCCREL is planning to invest a thousand crore rupees in the initial phase of the project this financial year. Funds will be raised through HCCREL’s forthcoming IPO, Rajgopal Nogja, its president, said.
According to Nogja, “We are acquiring thousand acres of land in Nashik apart from 300 acres in Thane in Mumbai and about 250 acres in Pune. Plans are on the anvil to enter into land deals in markets such as Panvel, Kolhapur and Nagpur as well.”
Apart from this, HCC Real Estate is also planning an eighty acre slum rehabilitation scheme in Vikhroli East in Mumbai.
The company is currently engaged in constructing two million square feet IT park in Vikhroli. Nogja said, “The IT park will be a world class construction with gold rated LEED certification for green buildings. It will be ready for occupation in 2009. We hope to achieve very good valuation once the project is completed.” He informed that Future Group’s Pantaloon and Orange have already leased almost 30% of the park christened `247 Park’.
Meanwhile, Oxford University has agreed to set up executive education facilities in Lavasa, the hill station being developed by HCCREL in Lonavla, Maharashtra. In addition, Girls Day School Trust of UK and Christ College, Bangalore will also set up their campus in the hill town; MoUs have been signed to this effect. While most of the infrastructure is ready for phase I of Lavasa, the construction of villas and apartments is in full swing. HCCREL has registered pre-sales of Rs 494 crore in the 2007-’08 financial year for the Lavasa project, against a target of Rs 99 crore.
HCC Real Estate is looking at setting a second Lavasa hill station project in Gujarat, on the lines of the one at Lonavala, said Nogja.