Great cities of the past were built around rivers. Today’s modern cities grow around highways and railways. NOIDA, Delhi’s mid-income housing suburb is at the cusp of such a transformation as its biggest metro rail project breaks ground.

NOIDA and its twin city Greater NOIDA are being brought closer with a 30 kilometer long metro corridor, construction of which is rapidly progressing.

This Noida to Greater Noida metro line will originate from Sector 71 and then will run parallel to the Greater Noida Expressway before terminating beyond Delta I sector. DMRC, which is executing this metro corridor on behalf of the NOIDA Metro Rail Corporation tells NDTV that they are introducing many firsts on this line.

All 22 stations will be elevated and for the first time in India will be fired by Solar Power. Another first are platform screen doors to prevent accidents and suicide attempts.

Speaking to NDTV, the Noida Project office of DMRC shared their great zeal in speeding up the construction of the Noida to Greater Noida line. DMRC is certain it will throw open this route to the public by Diwali of 2017, much before its March 2018 deadline.

This is perhaps the most exciting time for residents of NOIDA as apart from the Greater NOIDA corridor, there are three more metro connections that will save them from spending hours in traffic deadlocks at Kalindi Kunj or the DND Flyway.

From Kalindi Kunj at the Delhi Border, a metro line will be built to touch the Botanical Garden Metro Station on the existing Yamuna Bank to NOIDA City Centre Corridor. This extension will help riders from North and South Delhi who want to enter the Noida region from Delhi.

Next, the existing Yamuna Bank to Noida City Centre metro line will be extended to the NOIDA Electronic City beyond Sector 62.

The most awaited route however will be the dedicated metro line to Greater NOIDA (West), popularly known as NOIDA Extension. This developing sub-city has a massive one lakh fifty thousand units in supply across 190 residential projects. Bulk of the flats here are booked by first-time home buyers on a tight budget. These people number in lakhs and over the next five years, they are going to set up home in Greater NOIDA (West). And this line will be critical to bring their livelihood closer to their homes in this barren new region. At the moment, this route is just proposed and yet to be approved.

For property investors, reading this, their biggest query remains unanswered. Will the NOIDA -Greater NOIDA metro line which is progressing without hurdles unlike most mega infrastructure projects in India, help lift market sentiments in the region? For those investing in real estate in the NOIDA region for the long haul, the answer is a Yes. NOIDA and Greater NOIDA specifically have been looked at with skepticism by new home buyers who fear poor safety on the roads at night especially for women. But in over two years, Greater NOIDA will finally be a metro ride away for all those who have bought flats or villas there, but finding no motivation to shift.

For the short-term investor, the answer is No. The market will not pick up until home buyers return to the scene. And they genuinely have reason to shun property investments in NOIDA.
The NOIDA region is ensnared in a number of regulatory roadblocks and sector-specific troubles. The National Green Tribunal’s freeze on issuing occupation certificates to ready projects is yet to be addressed through a formal notification by the Environment Ministry. Because of this 30,000 ready flats are standing idle. And thousands more getting ready for possession also face an uncertain fate.

Home buyers are also spooked by the dismal record of the region’s big branded developers whose residential projects are stalled for the last 36 to 48 months. Home buyers want ready-to-move-in homes in the 50 lakh rupees range. And that supply is unfortunately choked in the Noida property market today.

Vasudha Sharma, Anchor & Correspondent- The Property Show