Bangalore: As at least 8,000 workers and professionals rush to complete the world’s tallest, 160-storey (818m tall) Burj Dubai tower by its December deadline, 1,800 workers are at the Imperial Towers project site in southern Mumbai finishing what will be India’s tallest building. The 252m-tall, 65-storey twin- tower project that began in 2002 is scheduled to be completed later this year.
Click here for a slideshow of India’s tallest buildings
India’s skyscraper developers haven’t had it easy. They have had to face public interest litigations and manage the intricacies of handling slum development projects in cases where these towers are being built on land that once housed sprawling slums. They have had to and continue to put up with complex and archaic regulations and, in the wake of the economic downturn, have seen financers, lenders and customers dwindle or vanish altogether.
Most of the high-rises are located in Mumbai or Bangalore. New Delhi, with its open spaces, has never believed in skyscrapers. Nor has Chennai.
“The history of tall buildings in India has been a process of private developers trying to build tall gated communities ensuring a sea or race course view...at premium prices,” said V.K. Phatak, former chief of town planning in Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). Phatak added that it is time to “have a single window clearance process (for such projects) to avoid delays.”
Despite the challenges and the current economic environment, developers continue to be optimistic about such projects—as is evident in the January announcement of a new project, a 100-storey tower in Wadala, Mumbai, that will be built at a cost of Rs2,500 crore.
The project is being built with the blessings of MMRDA. Vimal Shah, managing director of developer Akruti City Ltd, which is one of the nine firms to express interest in developing the project, said his firm was keen to be part “of an iconic project” and that MMRDA’s involvement would make requisite clearances easier to obtain.
The 158m-high Shreepati Arcade (45 storeys) that opened in 2001 in central Mumbai took a little less than five years to build. The builder, Shreepati Group of Companies, is now developing an 81-storey building, and managing director Rajendra Chaturvedi says the process has only got tougher. “The number of clearances (a developer has to obtain) have only increased now. It took us 15 months to get the civil aviation ministry approval alone.”
1. Palais Royale (click here)
Lower Parel, Mumbai
Height: 320m
Specs: A luxury residential tower with 70 storeys
Cost: Rs800 cr
Project: One of Mumbai’s tallest residential towers, the project is being developed by Shree Ram Urban Infrastructure Ltd.
Hurdles: The developer didn’t face any regulatory or financial problems but had to address several structural and technical challenges.
Status: Construction is on and the development is expected to be completed by the end of 2010.
2. Imperial Towers (click here)
Tardeo, Mumbai
Height: 252m