The Hindu Business Line : Highway malls catching on as land prices go up in cities

Travelling along the highways may mean a lot more fun and ease in the near future. Following international trend, real estate players in India have started to develop `Highway Malls' in significant numbers.

While Collage India Pvt Ltd, part of Somdatt Builders, plans to develop 10 such malls in the country in the next three to five years, Majestic Properties Pvt Ltd is looking to develop five malls in the next two to three years.

One of the reasons for the trend catching on is the fact that land is not easy to acquire within city limits. Besides, along the highway it comes at more reasonable rates and has considerable footfall potential.

"If one has to develop a larger mall, the land is not easily available within the city these days. Also, land is cheaper along the highways which means rentals in the malls come down," says Mr Sujit Kumar, Executive Director, Collage India.

Cheaper land also means being able to provide from wider corridors and larger atriums for the customers to bigger shops for the retailers, he adds.

These malls would be `not far away' from main city markets but situated on the highways. "They will increase the catchment area to include highway commuters," says Mr Abdul Bari, Vice-President, Marketing & Business Development, Majestic Properties.

Both officials maintain that it will be imperative for the malls to attract city crowds.

And hence, Majestic's mall `Melange' on the Delhi-Dehradun highway will have two sections — one that will remain open 24 hours for highways customers and the other for city shoppers. Melange will start operations next month and is situated near the main market of Meerut. Majestic also plans to develop one along the Khanna-Mandi Gobindgarh highway in Punjab and three to be announced early next year.

Collage has two such malls planned in Punjab and is looking at eight more projects to be built in 10 million sq. ft along highways.

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