Modern amenities give Naroda a realty high

Ramnik Vora, a Mumbaikar, is in the city these days and on a house-hunting mode. He is on the lookout for a luxurious apartment in Ahmedabad as his post-retirement plans begin with his dream to return to his roots. After checking out different residential schemes in western and eastern parts of Ahmedabad, Vora is zeroing in on a luxurious scheme of three-bedroom hall kitchen (BHK) flat in Naroda that offers beautiful landscaping, joggers track besides other civic amenities.

What was once a residential nightmare, Naroda - an industrial hub in the city suburbs replete with overflowing drains flooding roads, mushrooming slums, pot-holed roads besides the taboo of being communally sensitive - has emerged as one of the major hubs for attractive residential schemes of late.

But thanks to the drastically improved civic amenities in the area, and most importantly the connectivity to the western part of Ahmedabad with extension of the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), realty prices in Naroda have seen a rise by 30% to 35% in the past one year.   

Realtors say with improving civic amenities in the area, work of stormwater drainage line in eastern part of city and sewage treatment plant to ease spilling of drainage line, wide roads, flyovers, development of Naroda lake and proximity to one of the most famous hangout zones, the Kankaria Lake, denizens have now slowly erased the taboo of Naroda being one of the backward areas.

"One year ago, flats in Naroda were sold off at the rate of Rs7,000 to Rs8,000 per square yard. Now, with improved civic amenities on par with west Ahmedabad and coupled with BRTS infrastructure and easy connectivity, the price has upped to Rs10,000 a square yard with around 30% rise in property rates," said Babubhai Vora, president of Ahmedabad Builders Association. Vora also said that with Naroda turning into a new hub of residential schemes of 2 and 3 BHK flats, duplexes and row houses, builders are also providing additional luxury facilities like gardens, swimming pool, joggers track among others like in western Ahmedabad.

President of Maninagar Builders' Association, Kamlesh Gondaliya, said that among the advantages of Naroda emerging as the new realty hub is also the fact that it is better connected with the Expressway, national highway and also has direct road connectivity to Gandhinagar and other places. "Like Naroda, some of the other areas that people considered to be backwards like Vastral, Nikole, Ramol and others, are also seeing major facelift and are emerging as hubs for affordable residential schemes.

Most interestingly, buyers in areas like Naroda and others are real users and not mere investors unlike in the western part of the city," Gondaliya added.