Will Noida-Greater Noida Metro revive sagging real estate demand in Greater Noida?

Noida and its sister city Greater Noida form a significant part of the Delhi-NCR region. Though they are connected through well-constructed roads and wide expressways yet inadequate public transport options connecting the two had significantly hampered the growth of Greater Noida. The Metro rail connecting the twin cities was proposed quite a few years back but it was only recently that the route got finalized. DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation) has been roped in to develop the project and a SPV with name of Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC) has been created to monitor operation and maintenance work.

Will this upcoming Metro connectivity help revive Greater Noida real estate? Before answering this question, let us first have a look at the final metro route and the micro markets which will benefit from it.

The Metro Route

According to the route-map, metro rail from Noida to Greater Noida would span 28 kilometers with Sector-71, Noida as the originating station and Knowledge Park IV being the last in Greater Noida. Initially, this route was proposed to start from existing Noida City Centre station so that it could act as the interchange station for the Delhi commuters but the idea is dropped from final plan post feasibility analysis. Commuters can now hope that feeder buses would eventually operate to provide the last mile link between two stations.

The Greater Noida metro would have 22 stations in total of which 13 will be constructed on ground while seven will be elevated. Starting from Sectors 71, the metro would head towards Greater Noida via stations in sector 50, 78, 101, 81, 83, 137, 142, 143, 144, 146, 147, 149, 153 and Bhangel. It would enter Greater Noida at Knowledge Park-II and traverse through Pari Chowk, Alpha-1, Alpha-2 and Delta-1, before terminating at a depot station planned in Knowledge Park IV. The names for these stations are expected to be confirmed by next week.

To contain parking and congestion issues, NMRC is planning to build three state of the art multilevel parking lots. These would be located at Sector-71 and 145 in Noida and Alpha -1 in Greater Noida. These three lots are said to house over 10,000 vehicles at a time.

Such parking facilities would also have retail complexes, thus providing commuters an option to shop on the go as well.

Work Progress

The entire metro route is divided into three parts, forming three distinct phases. Noida authority would simultaneously work on all the three phases to meet its 2017 deadline.

Preliminary examinations to put the route on track are expected to be completed by January, 2015 and subsequently NMRC would release the initial Rs 115 crore fund to DMRC. Government of India (GOI) and Uttar Pradesh authorities will each bear 20% of the total construction costs while loans from external agencies would fund the rest 60% of the project. Twenty per cent funding from UP will be shared by Noida and Greater Noida Authorities, based on the length of track that passes through the two areas.

DMRC has initiated three tenders, worth Rs 600 crores each to build the route while the tenders for electrical-work and casting yards have already been floated. Thus, if the tenders get finalized by February, we can expect the work on the Noida-Greater Noida Metro link to start by March end.

There is another metro route in the pipeline which would connect Noida City Centre to Sector-62, Noida touching the NH-24. Though the proposal has been finalized, the project is delayed due to land acquisition issues.

Impact on Reality

Real estate market in Greater Noida has not done well for last few years despite having one fo the best infrastructure, affordable prices and sufficient supply of new homes. Poor availability of public transport was a major reason limiting the growth of real estate in the micro market. Proposed metro connectivity will solve this problem and integrate Greater Noida in Delhi/NCR.

Improvement in connectivity would also attract companies who will find cheaper offices in the area. This would further fuel the realty estate demand in Greater Noida. Additionally if we study past trends, metro alone increases property prices of the nearby areas. For real estate investors this is an attractive opportunity to acquire property at lower price and benefit from price appreciation in the future.

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