PUNE: More than a year after the Purandar airport project received the necessary technical clearances, property transactions in the area are yet to pick up. Official data shows 3,602 sale documents were registered last year, which was a marginal rise from 3,315 recorded in 2023.
There are two possible reasons for this sluggish demand — a land acquisition notification and fear of backlash from villagers.
“Even though the project has been in discussion for the last two years, property deals are not high. Once the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) issues a formal notification on land acquisition, transactions are expected to gain momentum,” a registration department official told TOI on Thursday.
Last week, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis chaired a meeting in which he designated MIDC as the project’s nodal agency. The state govt’s push comes as the Navi Mumbai international airport is scheduled to commence operations this year.
Developers and investors have adopted a ‘wait and watch’ approach, particularly in the seven villages that would give away land — Pargaon Memane, Ekhatpur, Munjwadi, Kumbharvalan, Udachiwadi, Vanpuri and Khanavadi.
Large-scale commercial and residential housing projects announced in Purandar, when the taluka was chosen in 2018 as the site of the proposed airport, have found few takers. “Alert us only after the notification is issued and there is concrete movement on the project,” a developer said, quoting his potential investors who evinced interest last year.
A local resident, who did not want to be named, said he owned around 5,000 sqft in Pargaon Memane. “I am among a group of villagers who want to sell their land. We are awaiting a formal discussion.”
However, there are many in the seven villages who are against sharing an inch and had openly expressed their discontent during the assembly poll. Newly elected MLA Vijay Shivtare is smartly avoiding broaching the subject with locals.
An MIDC official said once the notification was issued there would be some directives to stop transactions in the notified villages. “As of now, there is nothing from our side.”
A Pune-based builder, who had already declared a project in Purandar, said unless the state govt released a timeline for land acquisition developers would not think of investments.
General land transactions in Purandar taluka, comprising 108 villages, range between 3,000 and 3,500 annually, property registration records have showed. The state govt had in 2018 planned Pune district’s second international airport in the taluka, about 50km from the city, to cater to the growing demand from the region.
