The call of the mall is ringing out loud and clear for developers in Gurgaon. But residents — or anyone who has to drive through the Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road — are more likely to complain of mental mauling. Today, with just three malls in operation, people already find it faster to walk than to drive along the two-km stretch during peak hours. Now, try to picture the scene three years hence, when 12 malls jostle each other along this narrow strip.
The rest of Gurgaon will not escape either, with 60 malls being planned. Never mind that many residents already complain bitterly that this upscale suburb is literally straining at the seams as basic infrastructure lags far behind explosive, runaway growth.
Three malls
- Sahara,
- Metropolitan and
- Plaza,
are already up and running on MG Road. Construction on five others - DLF,
- MGF,
- Senior Builders,
- Vatika and
- Vipul,
has started, while four more are in the pipeline.
While the Guptas of MGF group may have been the first to cash in on the cash-rich MNC and call centre crowd, others soon followed suit. But will the gold rush last? No, say industry experts. Not with so many players fighting for the same slice of a limited pie. "There's no way so many malls are going to survive," emphasises Avneesh Sood, director of the Eros Group. While the big ones like DLF and MGF may just manage to survive initially, the others don't have a chance, he claims.
