Business hub takes shape in Bombay marshland<\/p>\n
By Madhu Nainan<\/p>\n
BOMBAY (AFP): Bombay's dream of rivaling Hong Kong as a global
\nbusiness hub is taking shape on 100 hectares (247 acres) of
\nreclaimed marshland at the center of the oblong-shaped
\nmetropolis.<\/p>\n
The International Finance and Business Center (IFBC) in the
\nBandra-Kurla area of the port city, when completed, will be on
\npar with the world's best business townships, its developers
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The city within a city is the most ambitious government real
\nestate project since India launched sweeping economic reforms in
\n1991, turning its back on 44 years of protectionism and opening
\nthe doors to foreign investors.<\/p>\n
Devbrat Mehta, chief of the Bombay Metropolitan Regional
\nDevelopment Authority, said the IFBC would serve as the corporate
\ncapital for businesses attracted by reforms in India's huge
\nmarket.<\/p>\n
"We will soon be the prime location for international
\nbusiness," he said in an interview.<\/p>\n
"Bombay is the ideal place for a global business and financial
\ncenter," he said. "With Hong Kong going under Chinese rule in
\n1997, there will be no global business center between Tokyo and
\nNew York."<\/p>\n
Work on the project started last year and is on schedule. The
\nIFBC will be "fully operational" in about three years' time,
\nMehta said.<\/p>\n
The project has sent real estate prices soaring in the Bandra-
\nKurla area, where office space sells now for 15,000 rupees (US $
\n500) per square foot, up from 1,200 rupees ($ 40) in 1990.<\/p>\n
It is cheap compared to Nariman Point, a tongue of land
\nreclaimed from the Arabian Sea and converted into a concrete
\njungle which serves as the current Bombay corporate center.<\/p>\n
Office space there rents for 22,000 rupees ($ 733) a square
\nfoot.<\/p>\n
The IFBC will not be just another concrete and glass forest,
\nMehta stressed, adding that 3,000 residential apartments have
\nalso been planned.<\/p>\n
"This is part of our new strategy not to segregate residential
\nand business districts. We want the place to be used 24 hours. It
\nshould be lively throughout, unlike a purely business district,"
\nsaid Mehta.<\/p>\n
He compared the development of the center to the redevelopment
\nof Battery Park in New York or the London Docklands.
\n"Land use will be planned scientifically as land is a very
\nprecious commodity in Bombay.<\/p>\n
"We will have wide roads, flyovers, parking lots and a whole
\nset of amenities, pedestrian plazas and shopping malls, fire
\nbrigade and ambulance services, schools, hospitals and health
\ncenters."<\/p>\n
Dedicated power plants and state-of-the-art telecommunications
\nfacilities are planned for the complex to make it autonomous and
\nreduce its reliance on creaking state-owned facilities.<\/p>\n
The IFBC is being laid out just a few kilometers (miles) from
\nAsia's largest slum, Dharavi.<\/p>\n
It will be bound by the Mahim Nature park which is home to 60
\nspecies of migratory birds, by a wooded walkway along the Mithi
\nriver and by a mangrove swamp the developers will leave
\nundisturbed, Mehta said.<\/p>\n
Asia's largest convention center, with a seating capacity of
\n5,000, and a luxury hotel will be a part of the center, he said.<\/p>\n
Major business enterprises such as the Unit Trust of India,
\nthe country's largest mutual fund, the Tata group and the
\nComputer Maintenance Corp., have already booked premises at the
\nIFBC.<\/p>\n
India's first diamond bourse and the fully computerized
\nNational Stock Exchange are coming up at the site, where 300
\ncompanies have applied for space.<\/p>\n
And Mehta hopes it will help decongest the chaotic Nariman
\nPoint. "Businesses wanting to expand would have to come here as
\nthere is no other place available in Bombay," he said.<\/p>",
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