Concept paper to develop cities in Panchgram ready

The Haryana government has come up with a concept paper to develop the Panchgram region—five new cities which will be spread over an area of 50,000 hectares on each side of Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP), part of the Western Peripheral Expressway (WPE). Panchgam will cover eight districts of the state—Sonipat, Rohtak, Jhajjar, Gurugram, Rewari, Mewat, Faridabad and Palwal.

According to the concept paper, this year in September, the Haryana government had approved the Panchgram Development Bill, 2018 for forming the Panchgram Development Authority (PDA). “The PDA will be formed to function as an apex body for making development policy around KMP. The body will function as a monitoring agency which will keep watch on the progress of Panchgram development work,” the concept paper reads. The WPE, also known as the KundliManesar-Palwal Expressway, together with the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE), forms a ring to decongest Delhi roads by providing bypass for vehicles not destined for the national capital. The WPE, which provides an alternative route to e vehicles to go towards Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan without entering Delhi, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month. The WPE and the EPE were conceived in 2003 to reduce pressure of the transit traffic that is not bound for Delhi. The project was divided into two sections—the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, running through both Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, and the Western Peripheral Expressway, otherwise known as the KMP Expressway.

However, it took almost 15 years for both the peripheral roads to see the light of day and it was the Modi government that ensured the speedy completion of the construction of WPE and EPE. Property market experts say that real estate developers had already sensed the importance of the KMP and used this opportunity well in advance and have managed to cater to the growth potential of the areas around Kundli, Sonipat, Manesar, Palwal, Greater Noida. These areas have now grown into fully-developed real estate hotspots where affordable housing options are attracting investors from Delhi.

Parmjeet Singh, a Delhi-based real estate consultant, told The Sunday Guardian: “The construction of the peripheral roads have led to the urbanisation spree in these distant NCR areas. The number of retail complexes and commercial hubs that has come up along these expressways, has increased rapidly. Most of the residential projects in these areas are now operational, and which gives an up-market feel to the consumer.”

“Property prices in these areas range between Rs 2,0003,500 per sqft. The impact of the peripheral expressways is also visible in areas such as Raj Nagar Extension, Faridabad, Bahadurgarh, and Ballabhgarh that have become hotspots of the property market,” Singh added.