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Lavasa

Coordinates: 18°40′N 73°50′E / 18.667°N 73.833°E / 18.667; 73.833
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Lavasa Corporation Limited.
Company typePrivate
IndustryUrban Development and Management
HeadquartersPune, Maharashtra, India
Key people
Ajit Gulabchand, Founder and Chairman, HCC India, L. M. Thapar Group of Companies, Venkateshwara Hatcheries, Avantha Group
WebsiteLavasa.com

Lavasa (Marathi: लवासा) is a planned city billed as India's first hill city since Independence, being developed in accordance with the controversial Hill Station policy passed by the Maharashtra government in 2000. The project is being developed primarily by HCC India near Pune and Mumbai and is spread over 25,000 acres (100 km2).

Artists impression of first phase of Lavasa (Dasve)

Location

Lavasa is located in the Western Ghats, on the banks of the Baji Pasalkar Reservoir behind the Varasgaon Dam (Varasgaon Dam & Reservoir) near Pune and Mumbai. The city is coming up on eight large hillocks that surround the elongated Varasgaon Dam Reservoir. The project covers approximately 25,000 acres (100 km2) of land. Lavasa is located within 80 minutes from Pune (approximately 50 km) and 3 hours from Mumbai (approx 180 km). There are five access routes to Lavasa, one of which is enhanced and developed.

Lavasa
Lavasa
Location of Lavasa
Websitewww.lavasa.com

Plans

Lavasa is planned in four phases out of which, Phase I in Dasve will be operational from 2010 with almost 1,000 villas and 500 apartments. The development of Phase II will begin next year and would be ready by 2014. The third and fourth phases would be ready by 2017 and 2021, respectively.

Planned economy drivers of the city

  • Research centres
  • Hospitality and tourism
  • Education
  • Resident population
  • Health care

The city has tied up with various names in the respective sectors to develop the required hard and soft infrastructure These include

Lavasa has signed electricity supply agreements with the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) and Tata Power Company Ltd [1].

History

The Lavasa project is being constructed by Ajit Gulabchand's Hindustan Construction Company with Hincon Techno Consultants as the primary engineering consultant. The master plan was developed by HOK, USA. The project feasibility and research was done by Accenture & ACNielsen, Urban planning by Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum and branding by Landor, (Hong Kong).

Awards and recognition

Lavasa has received international appreciation from the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) for its Master Plan and an Award of Excellence from the prestigious American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).[3]

Social Initiatives

Health

  • Free monthly check up camps for the villagers from surrounding areas
  • Specialist doctors and medicine are made available through these camps
  • Mobile Vans are used to reach remote areas
  • Primary Health center has been set up at each surrounding village and is staffed by professional doctors for round the clock medical service free of cost
  • A 24 hour free ambulance service is also available to locals, in case of patient transfers to other hospitals
  • Administrative assistance to the Government public healthcare staff for Pulse Polio campaign
  • Water tanker facilities for providing healthy, clean, accessible drinking water to villagers

Education

  • Schools have been handed over to each local Zilla Parishad
  • Instituted a teachers’ development program with the Government of Maharashtra for staffing the schools
  • Uniforms distributed to all students
  • Conducted Personality Development Activities and Aptitude Tests for students.
  • Nisarg Shala concept has been introduced to empower the locals to managing the natural resources at their disposal in a better way.

Employability

  • Jobs have been provided through various initiatives which make the best use of local expertise and potential.
  • Weekly bazaar, where the villagers are encouraged to buy and sell agricultural products, groceries and other household commodities

Living Standards

  • Constructed self-sufficient houses for villagers who needed to be rehabilitated
  • Goathans, which have been provided with school buildings, solar lights, toilets and drainage
  • Creches at labour colonies, which take care of more than 200 children of the laborers have been established
  • Mahila Bachat Gat initiative to create a culture of micro credit and savings amongst women in the local community

Womens rally

  • Annual event to espouse social awareness about womens issue organised on womens day
  • Raise awareness and aid for women’s cancer.
  • The funds raised are donated towards the Women’s Cancer Initiative of Tata Memorial Hospital, a non-governmental, non-profit organization aimed at creating awareness about cancer that affects women and other such issues

State policy

The government has not required the promoters of Lavasa to reserve accommodation for economic weaker sections of society. For HCC, the Return on Investments on Lavasa could mean a final project value of Rs 20,000 crores (or 200 billion) against a cost of Rs. 8,000 to 9,000 crores (or 80 to 90 billion) [2].

Water resources

See also: Varasgaon

The Varasgaon Dam's reservoir very nearly dries up in the hot summer months leading up to the monsoon. HCC, in order to address that problem has built a mini dam that has created a reservoir holding of 1.8 million cubic metres of water. Pune's population requires about 11.5 thousand million cubic ft (TMC) water[clarification needed] and the capacity of the Varasgaon Dam Reservoir is also about 11.5 TMC[1]. Lavasa Corporation acquired permissions to get 1.5 TMC water (14%) from Varasgaon dam. About 90 small streams have been diverted and are being projected as tourist attraction s-patkar/486570/0

Lavasa Corporation will pump water from the Varasgaon Dam Reservoir which is mainly responsible for Pune city’s water supply. Lavasa pays the irrigation department for actual consumption of water. However, through several dams and check dams, 0.9 TMC would be added to the Varasgaon reservoir. Lavasa will consume approximately 0.5 TMC of water. Therefore, a surplus of 0.4 TMC water would be added to the Varasgaon reservoir[3].

Current Status

References

  1. ^ http://www.financialexpress.com/news/lavasa-to-host-spaceworld-asias-first-space-edutainment-centre-at-rs-400-crore-investment/413522/
  2. ^ http://www.nickfaldo.com/archive/news/story/80
  3. ^ http://www.landscapeonline.com/research/article/5927

18°40′N 73°50′E / 18.667°N 73.833°E / 18.667; 73.833

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