A view on infrastructure- based real estate investment

New Delhi: There is no getting away from the importance of infrastructure as a catalyst for real estate growth. Meanwhile, a report on the planned Pune Metro was again submitted to the PMC in 2010 and has not been actioned, either.Even while new allotments for its expansion have been approved by the Ministry of Urban Development, other segments of the city's Bus Rapid Transit System are undergoing safety audits because of doubts that have been raised about safety on roads.Nevertheless, some of the game-changing infrastructure projects for Pune are very much on track, and are consequently all set to boost the city's real estate market in various key pockets. One of these is the ambitious Pune Ring Road, which was formally given the green signal by the state government earlier this year.Aimed at decongesting traffic on the roads connecting Pune and the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, the Ring Road, which will be developed on the time-tested PPP model, will inter-connect key thoroughfares such as the Pune-Nashik, Mumbai-Pune-Solapur, Pune-Ahmednagar and Pune-Satara highways.Understandably, this and similar infrastructure projects are drawing a lot of interest from long-term property investors, expecting that these projects will turn a lot of locations into investment goldmines. End users looking at the purchase of homes will invariably focus on areas that provide the advantages of the infrastructure in question but also offer reasonable living comfort.Interestingly, while property pricing and capital appreciation tend to remain subdued in projects immediately adjoining such projects for the above reasons, there does tend to be an increase in the demand for short-term rental options in such locations, as many occupiers are less focused on prolonged residential comfort and place more value on fast transit.The entire scenario changes when we consider road infrastructure such as the upcoming Pune Ring Road. Areas like Charoli and other locations along the Ring Road will be easily accessible from the major existing employment hubs in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.The benefits that the Ring Road and similar highway projects bring to these locations, minus the inherent drawbacks of transport points such as metro and railway stations, have a direct and very positive correlation to the investment value of residential projects located in these areas.To summarize, it is advisable to look below the surface when it comes to the hype that usually surrounds the arrival of a new infrastructure project.