The statistics sound impressive and speak of a lifetime of labor. Yet, it is sobering to consider that Sushil, Pranav and their company have just embarked on a project called Sushant Golf City, initially spread across 3,500 acres in Lucknow, with a built up area of 180 million square feet and valued at Rs 20,000 corer. This is likely to be expanded to 6,000 acres, with a built up area of 270 million square feet. It is already being nicknamed “New Lucknow”. In NCR, Sushil is conceptualizing an even more ambitious project: Megapolis. Located in Dadri (adjoining Greater Noida), an hour’s drive from Delhi, the first phase of Megapolis will extend to 2,500 acres and will have a built up area of 124 million square feet, with a value of approximately Rs 35,000 corer. Sushil plans to expand Megapolis to 5,000 acres as well.
Sushant Golf City and Megapolis represent the largest and most expansive property development projects ever undertaken by Sushil Ansal. Even individually, in sheer scale they dwarf the entire construction record of Ansal API and its predecessor companies over the past four decades. Quite obviously, a man moving into such challenging territory cannot seriously claim to be contemplating retirement. Sushil laughs away the charge and insists his job is only to get the new townships rolling, to finalize the blueprints. The actual implementation and the end product will be in the hands of a future generation. “The Dadri and Lucknow projects will take fifteen years to complete,” Sushil Ansal says, “frankly, they are for Pranav and Ayush [Pranav’s son] and for our team of senior and dedicated professionals to handle.” Indeed, on some recent trips to Lucknow, Sushil took along fourteen-year-old Ayush for site visits. Ayush was inquisitive and asked several questions about the project, just as Sushil used to do when he used to accompany his father to construction sites while still a schoolboy.
Megapolis and Sushant Golf City are more than extraordinarily sized projects for Sushil. Perhaps because of the juncture at which they have come, at the close of a period of tribulations, he has enormous emotional investment in them. They are his benediction to Pranav – as both father and group helmsman he is very conscious that he needs to give his son and successor a vast canvas, Of course, it is for Pranav to paint the canvas, and he has decades to do that. Daughter-in-law Sheetal acknowledges the richness of this legacy: “He is a visionary. The land banks he has built are awesome. Even without further acquisitions, they can keep the group busy for twenty years.”
In some respects, Megapolis and Sushant Golf City also represent a fulfillment of Sushil Ansal’s dreams and address many of the frustrations of his career. For the first time, he has control of a vast, seemingly limitless and contiguous area and is free to design it his way, within the broad parameters of the Uttar Pradesh government’s Hi-Tech Policy. He is building, not individual apartment blocks or even large neighborhoods but, really, two cities. No more is he hamstrung by municipal busybodies and bureaucrats; he is free to imagine and shape an urban space as he would want. The misgivings of the early years, the anger at the manner in which the DDA made a mess of, for example, Nehru Place in Delhi, by erecting soulless office towers without leisure or recreation facilities or even adequate parking, the disappointment that the government agencies in Gurgaon did not build the roads, sewer lines and external infrastructure to complement the impressive commercial complexes and residential colonies put in place by private developers – Sushil Ansal can now overcome all of those. “In Gurgaon, we built high-rises and people moved in,” he says, “and it was only after that that the government brought municipal services and external infrastructure to connect the internal facilities provided by the developers. It is unfortunate that Gurgaon is facing acute infrastructure bottlenecks which affect the quality of life for its residents.”
Sushant Golf City and Megapolis represent the largest and most expansive property development projects ever undertaken by Sushil Ansal. Even individually, in sheer scale they dwarf the entire construction record of Ansal API and its predecessor companies over the past four decades. Quite obviously, a man moving into such challenging territory cannot seriously claim to be contemplating retirement. Sushil laughs away the charge and insists his job is only to get the new townships rolling, to finalize the blueprints. The actual implementation and the end product will be in the hands of a future generation. “The Dadri and Lucknow projects will take fifteen years to complete,” Sushil Ansal says, “frankly, they are for Pranav and Ayush [Pranav’s son] and for our team of senior and dedicated professionals to handle.” Indeed, on some recent trips to Lucknow, Sushil took along fourteen-year-old Ayush for site visits. Ayush was inquisitive and asked several questions about the project, just as Sushil used to do when he used to accompany his father to construction sites while still a schoolboy.
Sushil AnsalMegapolis and Sushant Golf City are more than extraordinarily sized projects for Sushil. Perhaps because of the juncture at which they have come, at the close of a period of tribulations, he has enormous emotional investment in them. They are his benediction to Pranav – as both father and group helmsman he is very conscious that he needs to give his son and successor a vast canvas, Of course, it is for Pranav to paint the canvas, and he has decades to do that. Daughter-in-law Sheetal acknowledges the richness of this legacy: “He is a visionary. The land banks he has built are awesome. Even without further acquisitions, they can keep the group busy for twenty years.”
In some respects, Megapolis and Sushant Golf City also represent a fulfillment of Sushil Ansal’s dreams and address many of the frustrations of his career. For the first time, he has control of a vast, seemingly limitless and contiguous area and is free to design it his way, within the broad parameters of the Uttar Pradesh government’s Hi-Tech Policy. He is building, not individual apartment blocks or even large neighborhoods but, really, two cities. No more is he hamstrung by municipal busybodies and bureaucrats; he is free to imagine and shape an urban space as he would want. The misgivings of the early years, the anger at the manner in which the DDA made a mess of, for example, Nehru Place in Delhi, by erecting soulless office towers without leisure or recreation facilities or even adequate parking, the disappointment that the government agencies in Gurgaon did not build the roads, sewer lines and external infrastructure to complement the impressive commercial complexes and residential colonies put in place by private developers – Sushil Ansal can now overcome all of those. “In Gurgaon, we built high-rises and people moved in,” he says, “and it was only after that that the government brought municipal services and external infrastructure to connect the internal facilities provided by the developers. It is unfortunate that Gurgaon is facing acute infrastructure bottlenecks which affect the quality of life for its residents.”
Its very nice blog and it has nice information.thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSushant Golf City Ansal API