DLF to invest Rs 40,000-mn in Kerala

Kochi: The real estate developer DLF has announced plans to invest Rs 4,000 crore over a period of five years in various parts of Kerala.

The company will be looking at setting up a number of commercial projects including hotels, shopping malls and office complexes and many residential projects over the next five years, Lt. Gen. M.G. Girish (Retd), Vice-President (Kerala), DLF Homes, said at a press meet convened here to announce the launch of a mega residential project New Town Heights at Kakkanad in the suburbs of Kochi.

The investments involved in the new projects will be the largest by any single developer in the State and DLF will be primarily focusing on the markets of Kochi, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram for creating new projects. All its residential projects will be mega projects with a minimum of 1,500 apartments setting new benchmarks for the industry in the State, he added.

The company has also proposed to set up a heritage hotel project in Fort Kochi in the land owned by the erstwhile Aspinwall Ltd. Aspinwall company will be a partner in the hotel project, which is expected to be completed in two years. DLF will be making an investment of Rs 150 crore for the project, he said.

On the new residential project at Kakkanad, Mr Girish said that it would be a self sufficient residential area spread across 25 acres and will offer all the amenities besides certain unique features.

The project involving a cumulative investment of Rs 1,000 crore will have in all 1,800 apartments and will be priced in the range of Rs 30-50 lakh.

The project will be delivered for possession by end-2011, he said, adding that the construction activity will start in November. He pointed out that Kerala in general and Kochi in particular has certain unique advantages which make it attractive both from a commercial and residential perspective.

“We remain long-term committed to the market and will be looking at a slew of projects, both commercial and residential, in the State over the next few years,” he said.

DLF has an aggregate estimated developable area of 615 million sq ft under construction. Of this, the company estimates that approximately 254 million sq ft is in super metros (Delhi Metropolitan Region and Mumbai), while 206 million sq ft is in metros (Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkatta). All the lands are under master plans of various cities.