Unitech project after 18 months; work starts before launch

The project will have 28 floors, with 324 apartments spread over 16 acres, and is likely to be announced in the next one or two months.

In a shift from the regular practice in the sector, real estate company Unitech has completed about a tenth of the construction in its upcoming luxury project, ‘The One’, Gurgaon, before launching it.

The project will have 28 floors, with 324 apartments spread over 16 acres, and is likely to be announced in the next one or two months. These apartments, of 4,500 sq ft each, might be priced around Rs 4.5 crore (Rs 45 million). Builders in India are known for launching projects and only then starting construction, often resulting in delivery delays. 

This will be the first big project from the group in about 18 months. The previous one, Crestview, was launched in Sector 70, Gurgaon. With a renewed focus on its core real estate business, the company plans to aggressively market its new project. Construction for the latest project had begun about six months earlier and the foundation and ground floor have been laid.

Besides this one, Unitech is expected to soon announce the launch of another luxury project in Noida, ‘The Palms’. The pre-launch booking has started.

R Nagaraju, vice-president, corporate planning, said: “The One is a very prestigious project for the company. It has evinced a lot of customer interest as the construction is on in full swing. Apart from being the first big launch in almost one and a half years, The One exemplifies our strategy to ensure sales and construction move in tandem, eliminating the possibility of any delay in delivery.”

Adding: “We are undertaking construction at an all-time high level. This will not only help us strategise for newer projects but also provide immense customer satisfaction.”

Payment for the project will be construction-linked. Customers will also have the flexibility to change the layout, as well as doing the finishing according to their own tastes and requirements. Unitech was caught in the telecom scam, for being an alleged beneficiary of arbitrary allocation of 2G licences in 2008. It has since exited the sector.

The company had reported a 52.4 per cent jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 84.2 crore (Rs 842 million) for the third quarter ended December 2012, on higher sales realisation and lower finance cost. While the total income grew 25 per cent to Rs 644.7 crore (Rs 6.45 billion) during the third quarter, consolidated net debt was Rs 5,421 crore as on December 31, 2012.