Integrated township to come up at Whitefield

How will such expensive housing decongest the city?

Integrated township could show the way
The Times of India

Bangalore: In scale, size and concept, this is an absolute first for Bangalore. And it could be the beginning of a trend that some see as a way to decongest the city.

The Prestige Group, in association with D.K. Audikesavulu, member of Parliament and managing director of Chaitanya Properties, announced on Thursday the launch of what will be Bangalore’s first integrated township. The Rs 1,500-crore project will come up on the 105-acre Shantiniketan property in Whitefield owned by Audikesavulu. It will boast of a trade centre on the lines of the World Trade Centre and have over 3 million sqft of office and commercial space, more than what the ITPL currently has. It will have close to 3,000 apartments spread over 24 high-rise towers, a Forum mall with a five-screen multiplex, and a world-class convention centre.

The complex will also have the 5-star Radisson hotel, with 350 rooms and service apartments. The planning and design of the project has been done by RSP Architects Planners & Engineers, the group that did the planning and design for ITPL.

“We will complete the project by April 2008,” Irfan Razack, chairman and MD of Prestige Estates Projects, said. “It will be a fully integrated, ultra-modern township.” Audikesavulu had tried to develop this property in association with Unitech Ltd six years ago, but a crash in the property market soon after compelled a postponement of the venture.

Some half-a-dozen or more integrated township projects for Bangalore are said to be in various stages of planning. Shriram Properties and Sri Lanka-based Ceylinco Consolidated recently formed a joint venture which said it plans to set up an integrated township on the Old
Madras Road in an area of over 100 acres.

With foreign investment allowed in large integrated townships, foreign developers too are seen to be getting interested in such projects. Some urban planners see such projects bringing benefits in terms of encouraging people to stay away from the city centre and thereby decongesting it.