The recent developments on the real-estate front have discouraged most of the gung-ho property investors, but they are still around and are waiting for things to improve. The ratio of end-users v/s investors currently stands at 70:30 across the country, while five years ago it was 55:45. For better or worse, this figure will improve once the disruptive policy changes and negative sentiment give way to greater confidence and better returns. For now, most real-estate investments in Mumbai are happening in specific areas which have the right fundamentals for both current and future ROI growth. Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants shares his insight with Sandeep Sharma about the impact of metro transport projects on the existing and redeveloped properties along the route in Mumbai, challenges before city of Mumbai in becoming a Smart city, and last but not the least plethora of re-development opportunities in Mumbai. Edited excerpts... What kind of impact do you see in the real-estate prices of both existing and redeveloped properties coming along the proposed metro routes across the city of Mumbai? In land-starved Mumbai, redevelopment and vertical growth are literally the only options left for adding fresh supply in the areas that need it the most. Transit-oriented development is the need of the hour in a city where commuting is at best extremely challenging and at worst a total nightmare. Properties around the metro nodes will therefore see enthusiastic uptake, as long as they fall in the appropriate mid-income budget category. What are the challenges before the city of Mumbai in becoming a Smart City? When do you see Mumbai completely transformed into a Smart City? Mumbai is one of the most challenging cities to turn into a smart city. It is next to impossible to unleash the kind of infrastructure that the Smart City mission envisages for its target cities, as the city is teeming with immense masses of commuters every day. Implementing any kind of major infrastructure upgrades entails seriously inconveniencing the workforce, which is the life blood of Mumbai. That said, certain measures can certainly be undertaken, but the most implementable ones would be in the form of digital transformation and transit-oriented development. What's your take on the re-development opportunities available in the city of Mumbai? What needs to be done to fast track the execution? Again it’s a huge challenge. Getting the buy-in of all stakeholders in almost any redevelopment proposition in Mumbai is a gargantuan task, which not many developers are a match for. There are developers who are specialized in redevelopment, but they need greater incentivization and policy-based encouragement from the state government if redevelopment is to take off more seriously. *Map Source: MMRDA