‘CORPORATE BUYING SUPPORT REQUIRED FOR REAL ESTATE GROWTH IN SILIGURI’

Sandeep Goyal or more popularly known as SandeepG has grown his empire from scratch to a big organized sector in Siliguri which was never dreamt of earlier. Real Estate is already in the boom from the late nineties in Siliguri but of late it has taken the shape of a designer experience with sprawling premises, luxury facilities and the specialty the soothing ambiance. SandeepG Real Estate Limited is founded on a foresight which seeks to build a better tomorrow by providing people with improved quality of life and living standard. Mr. Goyal personally believes that his company must value their invisible forte- persistence and morality. TNI Representative R. Subrata talks to Sandeep Goyal candidly to know more about the future and present stature of the Real Estate Industry in Siliguri.

TNI: Over the last decade or more Siliguri is going through a phase termed as ‘The real estate boom’. Is it a myth or a reality? Please do elaborate.

SG: Yes, to a great extent it’s a reality. Over the last decade the demand for real estate has grown manifold. The city of Siliguri, situated at the “Chicken Neck” of North East India has excellent connectivity to Assam, Sikkim, Bihar, Jharkhand and Bhutan, Bangladesh & Nepal making it a vibrant place for the development of hospitality, retail, commercial and residential Real Estates. More over Siliguri is also spreading its wing’s to health care as well as education sector which in turn is giving boost to Real estate industry in Siliguri.

TNI: Economists believe that due to the under developed Industrial set up in an around Siliguri, the current spurge in the real estate will soon be busted. Do you agree? Please do elaborate your reasons.

SG: Yes, there is a very little industrialization in North Bengal. But on the other hand trade & commerce is flourishing. The recent development of Asian highway development in North Bengal which will connect three S.A.A.R.C countries with each other i.e. Bangladesh with Nepal & Bhutan, will Definitely give a boost to the economy of North Bengal and specially Siliguri, as it’s the chicken neck of North East India as said above. The said project is to be funded by ADB (Asian Development Bank). The golden quadrilateral i.e. the North East Corridor project is also going to start soon in North Bengal. All this infrastructure projects will bring Siliguri at an international level. Moreover, the residential Real Estate prices of Siliguri is still amongst the lowest in India, so in my opinion there is no bubble to be busted.

TNI: How do you rate the Real Estate growth of Siliguri for the last 25 years?

SG: The story of real estate in Siliguri started in the mid of 90’s and took pace in the mid of 2005. Since the last decade i.e. from 2005 till now, we are witnessing a random growth in all segments of Real estate business.

TNI: Where do you see the Real Estate industry of Siliguri reaching within the next decade?

SG: The Industry as a whole has under gone a lot of transformation from the semi organised to a currently well-organised sector. The Real estate (Regulation & Development) Bill 2013 which will most probably come into effect by next year will regulate the Real estate Industry & will knock out the non-competent, unorganized and non-transparent players. Siliguri has expanded well to all directions in its boundaries. Especially towards its western part covering Dagapur, Matigara, Shivmandir & Bagdogra etc. as it got a land mark such as Uttorayon & city centre which has now connected Siliguri to this part well.

TNI: Lack of Corporate buyers in Siliguri’s real estate is affecting the all round growth of Real Estate business in Siliguri. Is it true? Please do elaborate your reasons.

SG: This is true to some extent. At present the buyers segment is mostly the businessmen, public servants, employees of mid segment corporate & investors. If the Corporate Buyers come it will definitely escalate the growth by 20-25%.

TNI: What according to your opinion are the main causes of growth in real estate especially in Siliguri despite in zone 4 of earthquake proneness?

SG: Siliguri is strategically very important city in eastern India. This city is located at the Foothills of Darjeeling Himalayas. This city is the gateway to many important places like Sikkim, Darjeeling, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh and north-eastern states of India. This place is one of the largest tea growers in this world. It has again a very big role to play in the tourism industry. In trading and logistics, Siliguri caters a huge hinterland. Siliguri is also known for its pleasant weather and peaceful location to live in. As a result, we can witness a huge influx of people from different localities of the country. Though, Siliguri is located in Zone-4 of seismic map of India, good developers are trying to maintain quality in there construction. There are competent team of Architects and Engineers in this region to design and construct safe buildings. Finally, safe constructions win over natural disadvantages. Hence, adverse geographical location in terms of earthquake could not damage the growth of real-estate.

TNI: Earthquake – I on 2011 led to the steep de growth in real estate business for more than a year existed. However the latest earthquake that rocked the region on April was feared to have a similar effect again in real estates. However, it didn’t happen in that fashion. What may be the reason behind?

SG: Real-estate development of Siliguri started only 2 decades ago. Incidentally, September 2011 earthquake is the first remarkable earthquake happened since real-estate growth took its pace in Siliguri. This experience was not at all pleasant for the new generation residents of Siliguri. There was lot of Panic, rumors and myth in the air about earthquake. In fact, people of modern Siliguri experienced a major natural calamity for the very first time. During the earthquake happened during April 2015, things were bit different. Firstly, before the 2015 earthquake tool place; Builders, Engineers, Architects and concerned authorities were more equipped. Secondly, lot of Awareness generation program were organised by Govt. Authorities, NGO’s, Builders and professional organisations. Thirdly, no remarkable damages were found in Siliguri after this earthquake. Those perspectives helped our citizen to come out from the trauma of earthquake relatively quicker.

TNI: Please do elaborate on the present projects of SandeepG.

SG: The Ongoing residential projects which are in the pipeline and also which are on the way are like Mayfair Greens 2 & Mayfair Greens of Matigara in Siliguri, Shanti Niketan Rajbari in Jalpaiguri, Mayfair Paradise of Dagapur Siliguri, Mayfair Utsav in Shivmandir, Siliguri, Mayfair Crown at Goodricke School Road in Siliguri etc. are some of them.