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Rewari‑Steam‑Loco‑shed,‑picture‑1930. Description: ========================================================================
Time Traveller
Taj Express, 1964
It’s
hard to think of a time when India didn’t focus on tourism. However,
before the sixties got well and truly under way, luring people to our
many monuments didn’t figure too high on the agenda. A major turning
point in the country’s attitude to tourism was the introduction of the
first dedicated tourist train—the Taj Express, which started operations
in 1964.
It was a masterpiece in many ways. Leaving New Delhi railway station
at dawn, it would take a mere two-and-a-half hours to reach Agra
Cantonment station. This at a time when the shortest rail link between
these two stations took in excess of three hours. Perfect for day-long
sightseeing trips, the return train would leave Agra in the evening and
get one back to Delhi the same night.
As an additonal sop to the multitude of foreign tourists who made a beeline for this train, booking a return fare meant that one would have the same seat number in both directions. Add to that a nice breakfast and dinner, as well as beautifully appointed AC chair cars, and the classic WP steam engines that hauled the trains and you had exotic India on a single line. That old Taj Express is long gone—superseded by the Agra Shatabdi—but its tradition lives on in later trains like the Palace on Wheels.  Rewari Steam Loco Shed, A Photo EssayThe morning of March 3, 2012 
Rewari Steam Loco Shed: The proud legacy
Rewari Steam Loco Shed: Angadh, the one that welcomes you
Rewari Steam Loco Shed: Still going strong
Rewari Steam Loco Shed: Standing tall and strong
Rewari Steam Loco Shed: Just a mangled set of iron now
Rewari Steam Loco Shed: The boiler pipes
Rewari Steam Loco Shed: Workmen repairing the boiler
Rewari Steam Loco Shed: Firing up the engine
Rewari Steam Loco Shed: Not a bad place for a meal, eh?
Rewari Steam Loco Shed: The royal watering hole
Rewari Steam Loco Shed: The man who loves his job
Rewari Steam Loco Shed: The entire visiting group
Welcome to Rewari Steam Loco Shed which re-opened on the 9th Oct
2010, join us in celebrating the return of the Steam Locomotives.
The restoration of this heritage shed from a ruin, lost and
forgotten, to its present grand state has been a long process
involving timely funding and more than that the dedication, planning
and expeditious execution by my Engineers.
Rewari Steam Loco shed is now on its way to take its prominent place
on the steam map of the world, it has had many visitors, besides
steam enthusiasts from India and abroad, who have come to enjoy the
steam engines in their full glory. There are many who saw a working
Steam Locomotive for the first time in their life. Seeing such huge
machines at work is one the most humbling experience in life and
perhaps, the most joyous one too. For the old timers, its pure
nostalgia of an era gone by, where every child wanted to be an
Engine Driver and blow the whistle.
History -
Rewari Steam Loco shed was started in the year 1893 and was under
the jurisdiction of Bombay Baroda and Central India Railways
(BB&CIR), Rewari soon became one of the biggest junctions on the
meter gauge route and the shed too was the largest Meter Gauge loco
shed in India with close to 500 maintenance staff working at its
peak. In the early 1900 the shed primarily homed 'P' class engines.
The Shed's locos worked trains to Delhi, Bhatinda, Churu, Fulera
etc. Though the pre Independence holdings are not known, the shed
had a holding of 65 MG locos between 1980-82. Rewari also had 395
loco drivers on roll making it a major crew depot as well.
The shed had a working span of 100 years and was closed down in the
year 1993, by 1994 all but two locos, YG 3415 and YG 3438, were cut
up and sold as scrap. The shed was planned to be converted to a MG
Diesel Loco shed and from Sept'93 Diesel locos were maintained here,
this practice stopped in Aug'96. In 1994 The Royal Orient Express
was started and was to be hauled by two steam locomotives on the
stretch between Delhi Cantt and Rewari with this, the shed again
came to prominence for some time. In 2001 it was planned to convert
the shed to a heritage shed. By this time all meter gauge routes to
Rewari had been converted to broad gauge and some vintage BG locos
were also planned to be homed here, one bay of the shed was
converted to Broad gauge for this purpose. In May 2002 WP 7161
became the first loco to come to Rewari Shed followed by WP 7200. On
14th Aug 2002 the then Railway Minister Sh. Nitish Kumar opened the
shed, declaring it as the Heritage Steam Shed.
Rewari Locos have been a part of several Bollywood period films,
Guru, Gandhi- My Father, Rang de Basanti, Gadar are a notable few.
The shed has been given a new lease of life with large scale
renovation and restoration carried out in 2010, A new cafeteria, a
small library and a museum have been added. However, the sprit of
the place is intact, with the same shed building dating back to 1893
and majestic black beauties back in action.
The
Revival - Vikas Arya, the Sr. Divisional Mechanical Engineer
says, "Taking over the charge of Rewari in Feb' 2010, I found to my
dismay, that out of the 9 steam locomotives based here, only 2, one
BG AWE-22907 and one MG YP-3415, were in some kind of working order,
rest of the locos were in a complete state of rust in peace. 2 broad
gauge locos, belonging to this shed, WP-7200 and WP-7161 were lying
at Kolkata and Siliguri, at nature's mercy. Rewari shed itself was
in a state of total neglect, with crumbling walls and leaky roofs,
wild vegetation was all over and the spirits of the last 25 men
standing guard to the 118 year old locomotive shed and the rich
steam heritage of Indian Railways, was on a depressing low.
The first task was to give the men a
sense of purpose and instil a sense of pride in them, here the
infectious zeal of Ashwani Lohani, the steam man of India and DRM/Delhi
came handy. Offered a cup of tea on his maiden visit to the shed by
the staff in Feb'10, he refused to take it saying- "no one has a cup
of tea in a graveyard.. get the locos running and then we have a
feast here", the words had the required emotional impact that was
needed. On my subsequent visit two days later, a hammer could be
heard at a distance. An hour long chat session with the old guys of
steam, had them committed to the task that the skies of Rewari will
soon see smoke puffing out of loco chimneys and the whistle will be
heard once more."
It was an odious task to have the 2 WP
locos, stationed in Eastern India hauled back to Delhi, at 30 Kmph
over a distance of 1490 Kms, the movement order was released by the
board in July' 10 and loco 7200 WP left its rusty confines of Howrah
yard and moved towards Delhi, on way to Rewari. Getting 7161 out of
the cooler confines of Siliguri, farther east of Kolkata was
relatively easier. By now the remaining 2 YG locos had been
reconditioned by my men, by July end 3 out the 4 meter gauge locos
were on steam and the work on WP 7161, that had reached Rewari in
mid July, was on at a brisk pace. Another Loco, WL15005 that had
been involved in a freak accident 3 years earlier, that had
unfortunately killed its driver, had been sealed as a case property
by the police. I filed an application in the honourable court in
Feb'10 stating that the locomotive was a National heritage and the
only such class of locomotive in India and if left unattended, a
priceless piece if history will be lost. To our good fortunes, the
learned judge in the very first hearing could gauge the significance
of the matter and released the stay on the locomotive in April '10.
With this order I was free to bring this lovely machine back to
life.
We had 3 big locos in hand, 25 men and
just days to make them puff. Basic tools were not available, there
were no furnaces, expanders and cutters had to be procured. Working
against all odds our perseverance worked, we had to do it, no matter
what! The majestic WP 7200 was put on steam on the 25th Aug, WP 7161
was 'fired' on the 31st of Aug and WL 15005 was tested on 20th of
Sept. By September end the chimneys of 7 Locos were stamping the
overclouded skies of Rewari with steam and smoke, announcing the
re-birth of Black Beauties to one and all.
Civil work of the makeover started in early August and in spite of the heavy rains, was completed by October. In the meantime I had started collecting pieces of antique furniture, Crockery, Benches, Clocks, Telephones, Radio, Gramophone, Typewriters, Hand Signal Lamps, Semaphore signals, Old photographs, Miniature Models, Blueprints, Books and anything related to Steam Locos that could add value to this place, friends all over the Railways helped, specially my friend Vivek Sheel (SR. DME/JBP). A new Logo for the shed was designed, souvenirs planned, History of all the classes of the locos homed here was penned, which can be read in the Our Locomotive section. A lot of personal effort has gone to revive Rewari Shed but none matches the effort of my men here, without whom nothing was possible. |
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While
the shed has earned the tag of 'heritage site' for being one of the
rarest steam engine sheds in the world, the biggest challenge in near
future would be availability of workforce—well-trained in working on
steam engines.
When Air India
recently called for bids to rent 18 of its 23 floors in its flagship
building in Nariman Point, only two state run enterprises – the State
Bank of India
and the Sales Tax Department – showed any interest, that too only for a
couple of floors each. Shocked at the tepid response, Air India
mandarins called an emergency meeting of their auditors to find out
what was wrong. Had the babus bothered to ask around, they would have
figured that many of their iconic neighbours are also half empty and
finding it equally hard to fill the space up.
The problem, in fact, is with Nariman Point. It has been about two years since the south Mumbai enclave ceded the pride of being the city’s preeminent business district to Bandra-Kurla Complex, where commercial rentals are now the highest in the city, with an average of Rs 350 per square foot per month, a figure that goes up to Rs 600 for premium properties. In comparison, Nariman Point, which commanded similar rentals in its glory days in the mid-2000s, now settles for a humbling Rs 250.
It wasn’t always like this. What was envisioned as a business district for small and medium enterprises at the height of licence raj in the 1970s became Mumbai’s prime business centre over the next 20 years.
This was followed by the heady postliberalisation days when multinationals, keen to set up operations in India, thronged in and average rentals shot up to Rs 500.
In the mid-2000s, the decline began, as companies that wanted larger spaces began to turn to the newly established Bandra-Kurla Complex. By 2009, BKC was commanding as much premium as Nariman Point, if not more, and companies began the long march north. Even by these standards, 2012 has been Nariman Point’s annus horribilis. Rentals have been sliding unabated, vacancies have been piling up and there seem to be no takers for all the vacant space. Commercial rental data for the first three quarters of 2012 show that while the city’s average vacancy rate is 18 per cent, Nariman Point’s is 25 per cent.
Experts say this downward trend will continue for a few years before a crucial question faces the district: What next? When that point comes, these experts say, Nariman Point as we know
it today could become one big residential enclave for the very rich.
THE EXODUS
According to real estate experts, a combination of factors played a role in driving companies northward towards BKC and other suburban hubs. “The first reason is that there is no good quality space available in the area,” said Ramesh Nair, managing director (west India) of Jones Lang LaSalle, a commercial real estate consultant.
“Companies these days are looking at large spaces, like 30,000 to 40,000 square feet, with amenities like ample parking space, food courts, and gymnasiums. This kind of space isn’t
available at Nariman Point.”
But even when companies started shifting to BKC starting from 2009, most of the big companies still found value in having their front offices in Nariman Point. But of late, companies are shifting even their front offices to BKC. Almost all big banks like Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank, and JP Morgan, which had front offices in Nariman Point, have moved these offices to BKC.
“We saw a lot of advantages in moving to BKC,” said Mahesh Aras, chief administrative officer & head of human resources, JP Morgan India. “It has connectivity on the central and western railways and the expressways, making it a more convenient commute for 70-80% of our employees.”
Further, BKC provides corporates with the contiguous space that Nariman Point, with its multiple ownership pattern, could never offer them. “Our current location is in a standalone building exclusively dedicated to all our wholesale bank businesses. At Nariman Point, we had a staggered presence across floors in a multi-tenanted building,” said Aras.
Another reason companies have shifted from places in south Mumbai is safety, which is high on the priority list of MNCs and big Indian businesses. Most buildings in the area are more than 30 years old. On the other hand, of the 29 buildings in Mumbai that have received any kind of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design ratings, an urban design standard, BKC has seven, all of them with either gold or platinum ratings, which means these buildings score highly in energy efficiency, water efficiency and have better indoor environmental quality. The final reason is that Nariman Point remains relatively expensive.
Though it does not cost Rs 500 per sq ft, the rent, at Rs 275 to Rs 300, is still prohibitive for small and medium businesses. In comparison, even state-ofthe- art buildings in Parel go for Rs 150. In short, the area no more gives companies enough bang for their buck.
THE RISE OF BKC
To be sure, Nariman Point was not Mumbai’s first central business district. The earliest business centre was Ballard Estate, which was the city’s commercial hub in the late 18th century and early 19th century. Then, businesses slow moved to the Fort area, which ruled in the mid-19th century. As the city kept growing, Nariman Point was developed in the early 1970s to serve small businesses and establishments.
“If you look at any world city, the commercial centre keeps moving every 40-odd years,” said a self-employed professional who has had his office in Nariman Point for over 30 years and who did not want to be named for this report. “Offices were built in the range of 400 sq ft to 3,000 sq ft. While the small businesses rented or owned the smaller spaces, the big business houses had their own contained buildings, like the Mafatlal Centre.”
Just as Nariman Point had firmly established itself as the central business district, the central government opened up the economy in 1991. The multi-nationals came flocking. Almost every big bank or company that entered India opened a liaison office in Nariman Point.
“They were kind of testing the waters in the first 10 years,” said the businessman mentioned above. “And then when they saw that India was a good place to do business in and that they could move some of their operations here, they started looking for bigger spaces. This suddenly added an extra zero to their space requirement. Nariman Point just did not have that kind of space to offer.”
The MNCs were also discovering the perils of dealing with multiple landlords. If a company occupied even one floor in a Nariman Point building, they almost always had multiple landlords.
One landlord would want them to vacate and another would want them to pay a higher rent. In one instance, Chase Bank, which had its offices in the 7th and 8th floors of a building, had to take one of its two landlords to court to stop him from constantly harassing them with ad hoc conditions.
By the late 1990s, as corporates had woken up to the drawbacks of Nariman Point, a planned business centre had risen in the marshlands to the north of the Mahim Creek, at the other end of the island city. But there were no takers for this space back then.
“Developers had invested a lot in building Bandra-Kurla Complex but barring a handful of state enterprises, nobody would set up office there,” said the businessman. “It was a ghost town, just like Belapur in Navi Mumbai was at one point. The developers started breathing down the government’s neck. Something had to be done. That was when the government amended the Rent Control Act, making life difficult for tenants in Nariman Point.”
Under the new Maharashtra Rent Control Act of 2000, which replaced the Bombay Rent Control Act of 1947, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation was given the powers to fix the property tax for a building on the rateable value as opposed to standard rent. This meant the BMC taxed landlords based on the value of their building and property tax shot up to 112 per cent of the rent. And when they had to pay higher taxes, the landlords started passing this burden on to the licencee.
“No company wants an open-ended liability,” said another businessman, who owns commercial
buildings in Nariman Point. “Though many societies disputed this change in the law, the government had virtually made Nariman Point unattractive for companies.” Thus began the shift to BKC, which started filling out in the mid-2000s and by 2009 hadfirmly established itself as Mumbai’s central business district.
THE SCATTERING
Though BKC’s ascendency grew unabated through 2009-2011, this year has seen the beginning of a new trend. Mumbai now has not one but several business and commercial hubs – The Malad-Andheri belt in the western suburbs, Lower Parel-Prabhadevi-Worli axis in central Mumbai and the Thane-Navi Mumbai area in the eastern suburbs.
“This is one more trend we are seeing,” said Nair. “This year saw Mumbai get two very solid central secondary business districts. Companies looking at low cost and large spaces prefer the Western suburbs. And Parel today offers a lot of good quality commercial space; 3,000 sq ft in a Nariman Point building would get you at best one parking lot, whereas Parel will give you three, and at a much lower cost.”
This year saw companies rent about seven million sq ft in Mumbai, according to Balbir Singh Khalsa, national director, Knight Frank India. Nariman Point accounted for a mere 1.5 per cent. Lower Parel and Andheri accounted for 20 per cent each, and BKC’s share was 30 per cent. But the most space rented this year was in Thane-Navi Mumbai, which accounted for 35 per cent.
“Thane-Navi Mumbai, being in the sub-Rs 50 per sq ft bracket, is the most attractive place for entrepreneurs and small businessmen,” said Khalsa. “Thus, while BKC still houses the financial giants, Lower Parel is attracting the media industry and companies from the lower end of the financial spectrum. Almost anybody who interacts with customers directly goes to the Western suburbs. And the BPOs, KPOs, start-ups and those into back-end services for whom rent is an important factor are going to the eastern suburbs.” That has left Nariman Point with small family businesses, legal firms and self-employed professionals like lawyers and chartered accountants.
THE FUTURE
So what next for Nariman Point? Real estate experts see the downward trend accelerating in the next couple of years. “We expect vacancies in Nariman Point increasing,” said Nair.
“Rental and capital values will gradually come down. And we foresee societies slowly coming together to discuss redevelopment.” Khalsa agreed the trend will continue.
“There are no new buildings coming up. Even as vacancies increase, people will keep moving out depending on the cost structure and there won’t be many people coming in,” he said. Based on this trend, the future of Nariman Point will go down one of two paths. The first possibility is that the present decline will continue for a few more years, forcing owners to think out of the box.
They may come to a consensus that they can’t let buildings lie vacant\ and decide to go for redevelopment. What was envisioned as the financial capital’s central business district may become a residential enclave full of gated communities for the rich.
Khalsa thinks this is most likely what will happen to Nariman Point in the next few years. “There is demand for top-class residential buildings,” he said. “South Mumbai is still the place to be for the influential. So with its sea view, exclusivity, and what not, Nariman Point will be an important location.”
The other option before Nariman Point will need a bit of government intervention, of the kind that nudged people towards BKC 10 years ago. If the government decides to give a fresh lease of life to Nariman Point and ensures better connectivity from the suburbs, then the business – albeit small and medium enterprises that will find it attractive – may come flocking back. It will not be the same as it was till a few years ago, but it will still be a commercial district of note.
“I don’t see any reason why this can’t happen,” said the businessman. “The courts are here, the seat of government is here. And the government banks are here. So, if your business has anything to do with the courts, finances, or the government, which is almost all business, then there is still a chance that Nariman Point can become a formidable business district. But the government needs to ensure that it doesn’t take more than 45 minutes to reach from Panvel or elsewhere. After all, two million people enter and leave Manhattan every day. Why can’t the same happen in Mumbai?”
The problem, in fact, is with Nariman Point. It has been about two years since the south Mumbai enclave ceded the pride of being the city’s preeminent business district to Bandra-Kurla Complex, where commercial rentals are now the highest in the city, with an average of Rs 350 per square foot per month, a figure that goes up to Rs 600 for premium properties. In comparison, Nariman Point, which commanded similar rentals in its glory days in the mid-2000s, now settles for a humbling Rs 250.
It wasn’t always like this. What was envisioned as a business district for small and medium enterprises at the height of licence raj in the 1970s became Mumbai’s prime business centre over the next 20 years.
This was followed by the heady postliberalisation days when multinationals, keen to set up operations in India, thronged in and average rentals shot up to Rs 500.
In the mid-2000s, the decline began, as companies that wanted larger spaces began to turn to the newly established Bandra-Kurla Complex. By 2009, BKC was commanding as much premium as Nariman Point, if not more, and companies began the long march north. Even by these standards, 2012 has been Nariman Point’s annus horribilis. Rentals have been sliding unabated, vacancies have been piling up and there seem to be no takers for all the vacant space. Commercial rental data for the first three quarters of 2012 show that while the city’s average vacancy rate is 18 per cent, Nariman Point’s is 25 per cent.
Experts say this downward trend will continue for a few years before a crucial question faces the district: What next? When that point comes, these experts say, Nariman Point as we know
it today could become one big residential enclave for the very rich.
THE EXODUS
According to real estate experts, a combination of factors played a role in driving companies northward towards BKC and other suburban hubs. “The first reason is that there is no good quality space available in the area,” said Ramesh Nair, managing director (west India) of Jones Lang LaSalle, a commercial real estate consultant.
“Companies these days are looking at large spaces, like 30,000 to 40,000 square feet, with amenities like ample parking space, food courts, and gymnasiums. This kind of space isn’t
available at Nariman Point.”
But even when companies started shifting to BKC starting from 2009, most of the big companies still found value in having their front offices in Nariman Point. But of late, companies are shifting even their front offices to BKC. Almost all big banks like Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank, and JP Morgan, which had front offices in Nariman Point, have moved these offices to BKC.
“We saw a lot of advantages in moving to BKC,” said Mahesh Aras, chief administrative officer & head of human resources, JP Morgan India. “It has connectivity on the central and western railways and the expressways, making it a more convenient commute for 70-80% of our employees.”
Further, BKC provides corporates with the contiguous space that Nariman Point, with its multiple ownership pattern, could never offer them. “Our current location is in a standalone building exclusively dedicated to all our wholesale bank businesses. At Nariman Point, we had a staggered presence across floors in a multi-tenanted building,” said Aras.
Another reason companies have shifted from places in south Mumbai is safety, which is high on the priority list of MNCs and big Indian businesses. Most buildings in the area are more than 30 years old. On the other hand, of the 29 buildings in Mumbai that have received any kind of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design ratings, an urban design standard, BKC has seven, all of them with either gold or platinum ratings, which means these buildings score highly in energy efficiency, water efficiency and have better indoor environmental quality. The final reason is that Nariman Point remains relatively expensive.
Though it does not cost Rs 500 per sq ft, the rent, at Rs 275 to Rs 300, is still prohibitive for small and medium businesses. In comparison, even state-ofthe- art buildings in Parel go for Rs 150. In short, the area no more gives companies enough bang for their buck.
THE RISE OF BKC
To be sure, Nariman Point was not Mumbai’s first central business district. The earliest business centre was Ballard Estate, which was the city’s commercial hub in the late 18th century and early 19th century. Then, businesses slow moved to the Fort area, which ruled in the mid-19th century. As the city kept growing, Nariman Point was developed in the early 1970s to serve small businesses and establishments.
“If you look at any world city, the commercial centre keeps moving every 40-odd years,” said a self-employed professional who has had his office in Nariman Point for over 30 years and who did not want to be named for this report. “Offices were built in the range of 400 sq ft to 3,000 sq ft. While the small businesses rented or owned the smaller spaces, the big business houses had their own contained buildings, like the Mafatlal Centre.”
Just as Nariman Point had firmly established itself as the central business district, the central government opened up the economy in 1991. The multi-nationals came flocking. Almost every big bank or company that entered India opened a liaison office in Nariman Point.
“They were kind of testing the waters in the first 10 years,” said the businessman mentioned above. “And then when they saw that India was a good place to do business in and that they could move some of their operations here, they started looking for bigger spaces. This suddenly added an extra zero to their space requirement. Nariman Point just did not have that kind of space to offer.”
The MNCs were also discovering the perils of dealing with multiple landlords. If a company occupied even one floor in a Nariman Point building, they almost always had multiple landlords.
One landlord would want them to vacate and another would want them to pay a higher rent. In one instance, Chase Bank, which had its offices in the 7th and 8th floors of a building, had to take one of its two landlords to court to stop him from constantly harassing them with ad hoc conditions.
By the late 1990s, as corporates had woken up to the drawbacks of Nariman Point, a planned business centre had risen in the marshlands to the north of the Mahim Creek, at the other end of the island city. But there were no takers for this space back then.
“Developers had invested a lot in building Bandra-Kurla Complex but barring a handful of state enterprises, nobody would set up office there,” said the businessman. “It was a ghost town, just like Belapur in Navi Mumbai was at one point. The developers started breathing down the government’s neck. Something had to be done. That was when the government amended the Rent Control Act, making life difficult for tenants in Nariman Point.”
Under the new Maharashtra Rent Control Act of 2000, which replaced the Bombay Rent Control Act of 1947, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation was given the powers to fix the property tax for a building on the rateable value as opposed to standard rent. This meant the BMC taxed landlords based on the value of their building and property tax shot up to 112 per cent of the rent. And when they had to pay higher taxes, the landlords started passing this burden on to the licencee.
“No company wants an open-ended liability,” said another businessman, who owns commercial
buildings in Nariman Point. “Though many societies disputed this change in the law, the government had virtually made Nariman Point unattractive for companies.” Thus began the shift to BKC, which started filling out in the mid-2000s and by 2009 hadfirmly established itself as Mumbai’s central business district.
THE SCATTERING
Though BKC’s ascendency grew unabated through 2009-2011, this year has seen the beginning of a new trend. Mumbai now has not one but several business and commercial hubs – The Malad-Andheri belt in the western suburbs, Lower Parel-Prabhadevi-Worli axis in central Mumbai and the Thane-Navi Mumbai area in the eastern suburbs.
“This is one more trend we are seeing,” said Nair. “This year saw Mumbai get two very solid central secondary business districts. Companies looking at low cost and large spaces prefer the Western suburbs. And Parel today offers a lot of good quality commercial space; 3,000 sq ft in a Nariman Point building would get you at best one parking lot, whereas Parel will give you three, and at a much lower cost.”
This year saw companies rent about seven million sq ft in Mumbai, according to Balbir Singh Khalsa, national director, Knight Frank India. Nariman Point accounted for a mere 1.5 per cent. Lower Parel and Andheri accounted for 20 per cent each, and BKC’s share was 30 per cent. But the most space rented this year was in Thane-Navi Mumbai, which accounted for 35 per cent.
“Thane-Navi Mumbai, being in the sub-Rs 50 per sq ft bracket, is the most attractive place for entrepreneurs and small businessmen,” said Khalsa. “Thus, while BKC still houses the financial giants, Lower Parel is attracting the media industry and companies from the lower end of the financial spectrum. Almost anybody who interacts with customers directly goes to the Western suburbs. And the BPOs, KPOs, start-ups and those into back-end services for whom rent is an important factor are going to the eastern suburbs.” That has left Nariman Point with small family businesses, legal firms and self-employed professionals like lawyers and chartered accountants.
THE FUTURE
So what next for Nariman Point? Real estate experts see the downward trend accelerating in the next couple of years. “We expect vacancies in Nariman Point increasing,” said Nair.
“Rental and capital values will gradually come down. And we foresee societies slowly coming together to discuss redevelopment.” Khalsa agreed the trend will continue.
“There are no new buildings coming up. Even as vacancies increase, people will keep moving out depending on the cost structure and there won’t be many people coming in,” he said. Based on this trend, the future of Nariman Point will go down one of two paths. The first possibility is that the present decline will continue for a few more years, forcing owners to think out of the box.
They may come to a consensus that they can’t let buildings lie vacant\ and decide to go for redevelopment. What was envisioned as the financial capital’s central business district may become a residential enclave full of gated communities for the rich.
Khalsa thinks this is most likely what will happen to Nariman Point in the next few years. “There is demand for top-class residential buildings,” he said. “South Mumbai is still the place to be for the influential. So with its sea view, exclusivity, and what not, Nariman Point will be an important location.”
The other option before Nariman Point will need a bit of government intervention, of the kind that nudged people towards BKC 10 years ago. If the government decides to give a fresh lease of life to Nariman Point and ensures better connectivity from the suburbs, then the business – albeit small and medium enterprises that will find it attractive – may come flocking back. It will not be the same as it was till a few years ago, but it will still be a commercial district of note.
“I don’t see any reason why this can’t happen,” said the businessman. “The courts are here, the seat of government is here. And the government banks are here. So, if your business has anything to do with the courts, finances, or the government, which is almost all business, then there is still a chance that Nariman Point can become a formidable business district. But the government needs to ensure that it doesn’t take more than 45 minutes to reach from Panvel or elsewhere. After all, two million people enter and leave Manhattan every day. Why can’t the same happen in Mumbai?”
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