Navi Mumbai represents an attractive opportunity for NRIs to invest in real estate

The government nod for the Greenfield Navi Mumbai International Airport and Mukesh Ambani's Special Economic Zone (SEZ) are two big factors that are set to change the profile of Navi Mumbai, according to realty experts.

"Several of these projects were hanging fire for quite some time. Now, the government has formally given its approval to these projects, opening up new vistas for investors seeking opportunities in real estate," said Hussaini F. Nalwalla, Managing Director of Dubai-based Sternon Group, whose Magic Hills Residences project in New Panvel has generated huge interest among Gulf and global NRIs.

The Rs. 10,000 crore Navi Mumbai International Airport is being built on a 950 hectares site in Panvel. It will accommodate two parallel runways, with provision of full length taxi ways on either side of the runways. The airfield has been designed to accommodate the new large aircrafts compatible to aerodrome code 4-E. The Airport will handle 4.5 million passengers in its first operational year, doubling to 8.2 million by 2010 to 13.7 million by 2020 and 30 million by 2030.

Matching this development, the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Navi Mumbai, promoted by Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and his associate Anand Jain, will be among the first SEZs to usher in the SEZ revolution, inspired by China's stupendous success in this field. The Navi Mumbai SEZ, to be built on an area of 1,250 hectares, has been described as a project of unprecedented scale.

The third major development is the Gulf Finance House (GFH) project, Energy City India, the second Energy City after Qatar, part of a series of energy focused business clusters planned across the Middle East and Asia. Energy City India will occupy a prime site of 600 acres on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, a few kilometers from the Navi Mumbai international airport. The Energy City cluster concept provides a complete business infrastructure to both local and foreign oil and gas producers, as well as downstream refiners and producers and businesses involved in shipping, energy trading and support services.

"CIDCO, the nodal development authority for Navi Mumbai is simultaneously working on massive road and rail connectivity to Mumbai City. Realty experts agree that recent developments will push the real estate prices to dizzy heights," said Nalwalla, whose company Sternon Group has been appointed as the sole global marketing agency for the Magic Hills Residences project by Indian property developer, Garnet Construction.

The first phase of Sternon's Magic Hills Residences, an NRIs-only mega-township of villas and row-houses in Navi Mumbai, is nearly sold out. The project, spread over 400 acres, is coming up in a serene area off the Mumbai-Pune Express Highway, close to the Navi Mumbai International Airport in Panvel.

"The present moment represents the right time to buy a home or invest in Navi Mumbai," says Nalwalla. "According to some experts, Navi Mumbai's real estate could well be in the same bracket as Mumbai city, going by the new developments and the planned nature of the satellite city."

Navi Mumbai is the only Indian city to be featured in the National Geographic Channel's 'Super Cities of the World' series. CIDCO has drawn up elaborate plans to connect the proposed airport to Mumbai city. The four-pronged plan involves a metro rail, a ring railway, a ferry service and an inter-state bus terminal, all designed to move people from south Mumbai to the Navi Mumbai International Airport in just 40 minutes.