Recently, Punjab has been witnessing a Return of the Natives even while 15,000 plus passports are issued every month to people chasing the NRI dream in Doaba region alone. A mirage of a better future has turned Punjab's immigration in to an exodus. But, there seems to be a reverse trend going on as far as NRIs, and especially Punjabi NRIs are concerned. They are returning in droves to invest in India their sacred motherland, investments that have the potential to generate future employment for Punjab's jobless youth fleeing to foreign shores dreaming of a golden future that only materialise in the hardships and travails of life in a foreign land.
In November 2005, Sun City LLC, a New York based company whose managing partner, Kanwal Sra, a Punjabi NRI approached the Punjab Government for the purpose of declaring a $50-million project under the governments mega-project scheme. Sun City LLC has mega plans to build an integrated township at Jullunder catering primarily to Non-Resident Indians.
Floating a special purpose vehicle under the name of Phoenix Buildcon Pvt. Ltd. for their new venture in the heart of Punjab's Doaba region, the township will be spread over 122-acres. A group company, Fourth Dimension Project Management Pvt. Ltd., a turnkey construction, project, facility and real estate management, development and liaison company will take on development of the proposed project till completion on behalf of the holding company.
Managing Partner, Sun City LLC and Chairman, Phoenix Buildcon, Kanwal Sra told Economic Times his company will take up its request in the next meeting of the mega projects panel.
Slated to come up near Rama Mandi Chowk on the Jullunder-Hoshiarpur road, residential housing of Crystal Estate, as the proposed NRI Township has been tagged will be ready for handing over to prospective purchasers by April 2007. According to Mr. Sra, his company had already started acquiring land for the project that "will match global standards in every way." The project will comprise of fully built-up homes, villas, designer homes, condominiums, semi-detached housing, cluster homes, commercial complexes, a super specialty hospital, and even a 500-seater BPO unit.
Once the Jullunder project is up and running, over the next 5-years, they will replicate it in the Punjabi cities of Mohali, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patiala. The first phase of the mega project will cover an area of 36.25 acres of residential, commercial housing and recreational developments. The second phase will start simultaneously with 4.75-acres covered to house a super specialty hospital and a health and rehabilitation centre. The third phase will cover the remaining 81-acres with residential, institutional and commercial complexes.
A word of advice to the Punjabi youth who have gone illegally and are reported to be begging to be hired as labourers in South Hall (UK), USA, Canada and other places, why do you want to get exploited by the foreigners and well-settled Asians, why do you want to earn less than minimum wage? Mother India is experiencing a reversal of fortunes through sheer dint of hard work and the intellectual smarts of her children. The Diaspora by investing in Indian real estate or otherwise will not only hike the price of your land holdings, small though they may be, but they will generate jobs that you can not get if you migrate to foreign lands.
Mother India is on a roll, she is riding high on the Wheel of Fortune and in a few years, the wheel will reach the top, as the struggling West sits at the bottom, where we should ensure it remains. All of which has led to the Indian real estate market booming as it has never boomed before. Every dusty patch could be a potential gold mine.
