CHENNAI:Ponneri in North Chennai is going to be an investors’ paradise as the Mahindra Group is setting up a Rs 400 crore industrial park in collaboration with Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation.
Sangeeta Prasad, chief executive officer (Integrated Cities and Industrial Clusters), Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd told reporters the industrial park would be set up near the proposed Smart City planned by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The joint venture company, Mahindra Industrial Park Chennai, will come up on 650 acres in two phases. In the first phase 300 acres would be developed, she said.
“This is expected to be completed in financial year 2017-18,” said Prasad.
This will be Mahindra Lifespaces’ second project in Chennai, after the Mahindra World City.
She said under the joint venture Mahindra would be holding 60 per cent stake while Sumitomo Corporation would have 40 per cent stake. Mahindra was targeting an investment of Rs 2,500 crore in the industrial park on the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor.
This could mean that Ponneri would have an industrial park as well as a Smart City, which was taking shape under JICA. The smart city is coming up on about 25,000 acres in three phases. The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) Chennai president Ajith Chordia told Express that Ponneri was developing into a good satellite township.
“It has all the ingredients and could outgrow Oragadam which lacks rail connectivity. In Oragadam, one has to look towards Singaperumal Koil for rail connectivity but Ponneri has all forms of connectivity,” Chordia said.
Asked if land prices would shoot up in Ponneri, Chordia said a lot of development was happening and people are cautious of acquiring land.
“Let the government first designate land for roads, sewage treatment plants, storm water drains and other infrastructure,” he said.
He also suggested that the government should follow the Amravati model of land pooling for sustainable development in Ponneri.