Realty company PBEL has commenced work on a mixed use satellite township project in Chennai, its second major project in the country after the one under way in Hyderabad.

It is scouting for more projects. The company has awarded the works contract to construction company Shapoorji Pallonji.

PBEL is a real estate joint venture based in Hyderabad with publicly traded PBC, Israel’s largest business conglomerate, Electra Real Estate, Israel and Incor Infrastructure. “The real estate company is now scouting for one more projects in Chennai and another in Hyderabad. The market for real estate has begun to look up and we believe it is time to tap the potential,” Surya Reddy, Managing Director of PBEL, said.

“The venture has, so far, deployed Rs 550 crore towards the company equity, investing in land and in construction works. We are looking at more locations to take up projects as the market has begun to look up after a relatively subdued phase after the boom time in 2007-08,” he explained.

During a recent interaction with Business Line , Reddy said, “The company had purchased a 42-acre site on the busy OMR growth corridor for Rs 250 crore from Kotak Mahindra in Chennai. Now we are in the process of developing the project.”

Two towers have been sold out in a short span. Apartments are priced in the Rs 35-40 lakh range. The demand in real estate is much more in Chennai compared with Hyderabad. “The Chennai project will have apartments, independent houses and lot of play-related infrastructure, making it an enjoyable experience to stay out there,” he said.

Residential project

The company is currently executing a large residential project at Appa Junction close to the IT hub of Gachibowli in Hyderabad. The project execution has been handed over to construction company L&T. So far two towers have been completed and work on others is under way.

rishikumar.vundi@thehindu.co.in