Source: The Hindu December 17, 2011

It's Anekal, in spite of being away from the CBD, that is climbing up the popularity charts, feels R.Y.N. Rao

With the real estate scenario in Bangalore evolving all the time, it is natural for us to hear of newer places, further away from the CBD area, climb up the popularity charts.

One such place is Anekal. Situated in the southern part of Bangalore, it is around 40 km from the city centre.

The name of the area literally translates to ‘elephant stone' and is also known as ‘Gajashella Pura,' meaning the ‘town of elephant rock.'

Anekal has two primary stretches — one which goes from Chandapura to Anekal and the other is from Bannerghatta road to Anekal.

Number of projects

There is a great deal of real estate activity going on in these areas and it is being hailed as the next IT corridor of Bangalore. With the widening of the road leading to ITPL, the number of real estate and commercial projects is on the rise.

The development in this area is segregated – with Bannerghatta Road stretch being the residential hub and the Chandapura stretch seeing a lot of IT-based development. The activity was predominantly by Tier-2 developers but with time and the increasing popularity of Anekal, a number of Tier-1 developers have found their way here.

Joint development

When it comes to residential development in the Bannerghatta stretch, the area has an added advantage. Since the area connects to Tamil Nadu via Hosur, there is a lot of joint development that is taking place as well.

As far as infrastructure goes, the roads leading to ITPL are wide enough. But soon, some work will have to be taken up on the interior roads of Bannerghatta stretch to facilitate smooth flow of traffic. Ground water levels too are extremely good here and the area has a lot of green space available. This is thanks to the wildlife and protected areas in the vicinity.

Great potential

The construction that is taking place here has been in a pattern of sorts. There is a great deal of plotted development activity with a large number of villa projects being planned.

Though commercial development is not really organised here, there are several good projects in the offing. The Chandapura stretch has a lot of potential in terms of commercial land availability and several projects are breaking ground here.

Going forward, the Chandapura stretch will continue to see IT development but in terms of residential growth, Bannerghatta stretch seems to be saturated till the Bannerghatta Park. There may be some scope on the interior roads where development is possible.