Bangalore still lies in south-east!

Bangalore still lies in south-east!
The Times of India

Bangalore: The south and east phenomenon shows no sign of slackening. Bangalore’s amazing growth in the past decade has been concentrated in these two directions, along an arc from Bannerghatta Road to Whitefield. Massive corporate campuses, large and numerous residential complexes and modern retail facilities have come up along this belt.

And a tally done by The Times of India of 107 upcoming large residential complexes finds there is unlikely to be a dramatic change occurring in this geographical lopsidedness. However, it does also indicate the beginnings of a challenge emerging from the north.

Of the 107 projects, 74 are in the south and east, with a good part of that (as many as 23) in Whitefield, easily the most happening location in the city now and referred to by many as the Gurgaon of Bangalore. About 14 of the new residential projects are in the north. And the rest are in traditional areas of Bangalore, including the central business district and Malleswaram/Rajajinagar. “I don’t see any major locational shift happening. Even in the south, which has seen the most development, we are still getting land, be it Hosur Road, Bannerghatta Road or Kanakapura Road,” says J.C. Sharma, managing director of Sobha Developers.

Neville Vaswani, director in Vaswani Estates Developers, says development will happen where people want to stay, which currently is areas like Whitefield, Sarjapur Road and the south. “For north Bangalore, the only driver at present is the international airport. But it is an area that will eventually come into its own,” he says.

Development of residential and retail facilities invariably follows commercial development. And that’s where the north and west still lag. The Kirloskar-Embassy business park is about the only major new commercial development in the northern direction. But the upcoming Philips Software campus near Hebbal and the possibility of the state government providing Infosys with 300 acres of land near Yelahanka could give an impetus to the north.

“A lot of developers are looking closely at the north,” says Mahesh Laxman, head of Chesterton Meghraj Property Consultants, Bangalore. Girish Puravankara, whose Puravankara Projects is planning a couple of large projects near Yelahanka, notes that Bangalore’s cosmopolitan populace likes the idea of staying in clean, non-congested localities, which one can find readily in the north.

But some will have none of that. “Cities invariably develop towards the south and east. And that’s what will continue to happen in Bangalore too,” says a property developer. Something to do with Vaastu?