So far considered the weekend retreat of the well-heeled, Alibaug, off Mumbai’s coast, could soon be open to a larger crowd once infrastructure projects offering better connectivity with the mainland are completed. Dotted with sprawling bungalows, the area is consequently all set for bigger realty play.
Foremost among the infrastructure projects currently underway is the roll-on-roll-off (RORO) jetty water transport system linking south Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Alibaug to provide all-weather boat connectivity, making the area accessible even during monsoons. Also from south Mumbai, it will be possible to reach Alibaug in 40 minutes flat.
“The new infrastructure development plan is going to change a lot for Alibaug, especially as RORO becomes operational. There are established developers betting big on Alibaug, which include Hiranandanis, Mahindra Lifespaces, Neelkanth Developers, and which have acquired large tracts of land amounting to hundreds of acres,” says Anuj Puri, chairman, ANAROCK Property Consultants.
A gated community development keeping in mind second homebuyers, not only for high net worth individuals, but also young executives and professionals, is the target segment, with facility management and maintenance of these apartments thrown in as an incentive for buyers.
A look at these infrastructure projects will make it clear why developers are seeing value in buying and building at Alibaug. To begin with there is the Rewas-Karanja Creek Link, an 8-km road over the creek; then there is the Mandwa Marina which is a high-tech inland passenger water transport terminal; Mumbai-Trans Harbour Link, a 21.8-km freeway grade road bridge, and a multi-modal corridor that is the 140-km Virar-Alibaug corridor connecting towns across Mumbai metropolitan region with Alibaug. All these projects are likely to be completed within five to seven years from now.
“From a macro perspective, it stacks up well. Three factors that make Alibaug ripe for realty play are, huge amount of land availability, reasonable land prices and infrastructure. In five to 10 years I see it developing as Mumbai’s Hampton,” Puri says.
Experts believe once the affordable luxury segment with high mid-income category comes into Alibaug, the demography of the place, currently stuck between very low-income group and the ultra-rich, will change.
“When the mid-income and affordable luxury starts coming in, developers and the local community starts seeing value in the land and land prices go north, making more availability in the civic kitty to invest in infrastructure. Panvel is one such example,” says Girish Shah, executive director at real estate consultancy and advisory firm Knight Frank.
“Alibaug in our opinion is a very interesting market, which is why we are launching our first project there at the end of this year,” says Sahil Vora, founder and managing director, SILA, a real estate advisory and facility management firm that forays into the second home market in Alibaug by December.
“In medium term of three to five years from a micro market perspective Alibaug will become an active second home market,” feels Vora. His 100 units of around 1,500 -2000 sq ft will cost between Rs 1 crore and Rs 2 crore. “Alibaug is a story that has not been sold correctly till now,” says Vora. Maybe the time is right to fix that.
