Record tender rate in Navi Mumbai

It is Mumbai's twin city after all. Real estate prices in Mumbai are spiralling upwards and the trend is being duplicated in Navi Mumbai.

In a clear sign of growing demand for real estate in this region, a lease plot reserved for the Information Technology (IT) sector went for a record-setting bid of Rs 83 crore at Rs 2,01, 362.67 per sq mtrs after a tender for the same was floated.

The bid surpassed the previous highest bid earlier this year of Rs 95,555 for a plot on Palm Beach road. 

The City Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) is now in the process of scrutinising all the documents before issuing the final lease letter. The second highest bidder, though, has charged that there was a problem with one of the documents with the paperwork of the first bidder.

CIDCO had floated a tender for leasing out of plots for office premises to IT companies at the International Infotech Park in Sector 30 A, Vashi.

Plot numbers 4 and 6 were combined by CIDCO into one plot and put up for bids, having a combined area of 4159.80 sq mtr. Located close to Vashi Railway Station and also the Vashi Infotech Park complex, the plot was touted as a lucrative catch.

The entire area has been earmarked for IT companies and the Bhavans  (offices) of various states.

After being postponed twice, the tender process finally got underway last Friday. Eight tenders were submitted between 1:00 and 2.30 pm. Interested parties were also told to submit earnest money of Rs 1.41 crore each for the plot.

The bid by Yash Accounting &  E-Services Pvt Ltd was found to be the highest. The total price for the plot that has been allotted an FSI of 3 works out to Rs 83,76,28, 434.67.

The bid is the highest-ever in Navi Mumbai. The previous highest price for a plot was a bid last year for a 1.5 FSI plot on Palm Beach Marg. This time all the bids were in fact higher than the previous highest bid.

The second highest bidder this time was Shree Java Web Developers Pvt Ltd with a bid of 1,62, 211.00. The company has submitted a written objection to CIDCO following the tender opening stating that the Software Technology Park of India (STPI) certificate submitted by Yash Accounting & E-Services Pvt Ltd was "not proper and valid".

The certificate says a company is an IT registered company. Only IT companies could bid for the plot reserved for an IT park. While the company officials wanted the bid to be awarded to them, others asked for a re-tender. CIDCO officials said, the documents will be verified and only then will CIDCO announce its decision. No official from Yash was available for comments despite repeated attempts.  

Builders in Navi Mumbai, though, have responded with caution at the record price bid. Said Rajesh Prajapati, Trustee of Navi Mumbai Chamber of Housing, "The record bid is not good for the market and such a trend shouldn't continue. People are simply buying up at any cost. It is high time CIDCO released more land to check such a spurt in the rates."
 
Added Jigar Trivedi of Progressive Builders, "There are plots in the same area which have earlier been sold for 10 per cent of this price. Such rates do not make any sense and certainly do not augur well for the future."