Lavasa Hill City is free India's first and largest hill city with a sprawling township spread across the 7 hills of
the Mose valley. The area is quite close to the major cities of Pune and Mumbai
and circles the Varasgaon lake. Lavasa is just about 65 Kms (an hrs drive) from
Pune and abut 200 Kms ( 3.5 hrs) from Mumbai. Lavasa Hill
City covers 25,000 acres
with 60 Kms of lakefront. It is spread amidst 100 sq. kms., which is almost
1/4th the size of Mumbai
Lavasa city has been designed on the principles of new urbanism, and is said to offer the best-in-class infrastructure, international educational institutions, leading
non-polluting industries, exciting avenues of leisure & tourism and homes
for comfortable living. An ecologically sustainable environment will help you
live, work, learn and play in harmony with nature at Lavasa. Over 25,000
lakeside apartments and villas with over 50,000 employment opportunities should
be available at Lavasa city. Apart from it's diversity in work possibilities,
Lavasa also present some wonderful housing options for permanent residents.
Some other famous concepts of hill cities, but all developed during the British
Raj, are Shimla, Kullu and Ooty.
Lavasa project is being developed by HCC India. Although the land is disputed by some, the master plan for Lavasa has already won 3 Global Awards. Apart from latest technologies
and state-of-the-art connectivity, Lavasa also assures of world class
infrastructure and first class roads. There are five access routes to the
Lavasa city, one of which, the Chandni chowk-Pune road, has been developed. The first phase of the Lavasa Hill
town is currently under construction and is scheduled for completion in Dec
'2009. The Fortune Select Dasve Hotel is now open at Lavasa
while Dasve, the first town, is expected to be ready by 2009-10.
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).
Lavasa Corporation was originally registered as Pearly Blue Lake Resorts Pvt Ltd on February 11, 2000, with Aniruddha Deshpande, Vitthal Maniyar, and Aniruddha Seolekar as its first directors. The firm
changed its name to The Lake City Corporation Pvt Ltd on December 12, 2000, and
around 2004 to Lavasa Corporation.[10]
On October 3, 2002, Supriya Sule daughter of Sharad Pawar was allotted 12.48 lakh equity shares and 26.64 lakh 6% redeemable preference shares by The Lake City
Corporation Pvt Ltd. The other shareholders included Aniruddha Deshpande, Vinay
Vitthal Maniyar, Jyoti Bhale, Arvind Bhale, Hindustan Finvest Ltd, Srivenk
Investments Ltd, Venkateshwara Hatcheries Ltd and Janpath Investment and
Holdings Ltd.[10]
The shareholding pattern changed in 2004 and as of October 6, 2004, Sadanand and Supriya Sule jointly held 7.49 lakh equity shares and 29.97 lakh 6% redeemable preference shares of the Lavasa
Corporation with a face value of Rs10. The Sules and other investors have since
sold their stake and the shareholding pattern as of Aug 2010 is
- HCC through its subsidiary HREL - 64.99%[11]
- Avantha Group - 16.25%
- Other Investors - 5.95%
The HCC board approved the Lavasa Corp IPO in Jul 2010. The Draft Red Herring Prospectus for the Lavasa Corp IPO was filed on 13-Sep-2010
with SEBI (Securities Exchange Board of India)
seeking to raise Rs. 20000 million through a initial public offer (IPO).
