The Rising Residential Suburbs Of Ahmedabad: Ghuma & Bopal

With the growing urban population, the city limits expand. This can now be witnessed in the industrial hub of Gujarat, Ahmedabad. The city, which offers ample job and business opportunity, a large rural population is moving to the city, calling for expanding city limits to suburbs, thus, emergence of new real estate hotspots.

Ghuma and Bopal, two satellite townships, are the most sought after real estate destinations in the emerging suburbs of Ahmedabad. The Urban elopment Authority recently elevated the status of these two localities to municipalities.
These areas are equally well-developed as the city itself. The infrastructure here includes commercial and residential high-rises, shopping arcades, educational institutions, hospitals, and banks. Moreover, Bopal is also home to some large companies including Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC India), Intex, Vodafone, and LG along with many mid-sized companies. With these companies having offices here, many working professionals have moved to the West areas.

Convenience of transportation

These areas, which were earlier labeled as 'outskirts', are no more referred so because they have become sustainable over the years. Travelling within these areas is easy with developed road, while ease of transportation availability including low-floor air-conditioned buses as a part of Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) also make it convenient to travel to and from the city. These areas are close to the new Sardar Patel ring road, which provides smooth transportation across the city.

Fast-developing civic & social infrastructure

The infrastructure in these two townships is fast catching up to the real estate demand and development. Roads are being laid in some of the extension areas of Bopal. Until a few months back, drinking water and drainage systems were lacking here but, the situation is fast changing as the Urban elopment Authority is quickly connecting areas in Bopal and Ghuma to the drainage line. A number of areas have already been connected and a few others will be done soon, increasing the value of property in Bopal and Ghuma.

On the other hand, the social infrastructure of Bopal and Ghuma has been growing very fast. There are around 25 malls in these areas including Galaxy Super Mall, Grand Monarch Mall, 10 Acres Mall and Ahmedabad Central. The educational institutions here include Public School, St Ann's School, The New Tulip School. For medical facilities the areas have Bopal multispeciality hospital, Mamta Hospital, Adarsh Hospital, among others.

Property prices in Ghuma and Bopal

Many large and spacious homes are being constructed in various upcoming high-rise projects in these areas. However, these homes are not expensive when compared to property prices in the city.

The property prices in Bopal have been steadily rising. The property in Bopal and South ranges between Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,500 per sq ft. On the other hand, price of property in Ghuma ranges between Rs 2,500 to Rs 5,000 per sq ft. A 2,200 sq ft 3BHK apartment in Ghuma can cost anywhere between Rs 85 lakh-Rs 90 lakh, while, a 2BHK apartment in Bopal cost between Rs 35 lakh-Rs 50 lakh depending on the project and the amenities provided.

This, however, does not take the number of 'high-living' luxury homes that are coming up in these areas, especially Bopal. Safal Paarijat Eclat has 4BHK apartments in Bopal sized between 3,938-7,384 sq ft cost anywhere between Rs 2.5 crore-Rs 4 crore. Shaligram Garden Homes is a project with 4BHK villas in Bopal, which cost between Rs 1.1 crore - Rs 2.4 crore.

The property prices in Ghuma and Bopal are comparatively low in spite of the growing demand for homes in these areas from both home buyers within the city as well as those who are moving to Ahmedabad, and also the investors, planning to invest in Ahmedabad real estate. The growth in demand is due to rising number of projects in the area. More than 123 projects are being constructed in Bopal and nearly 30 coming up in Ghuma area.

(Katya Naidu has been working as a business journalist for the last nine years, and has covered beats across banking, pharma, healthcare, telecom, technology, power, infrastructure, shipping and commodities)