panaji battered by mining they may be but the twin cities of curchorem and sanvordem are witnessing rising levels of prosperityif the spurt in trade and commerce coupled by a surge in real estate prices is anything to go by business analysts are unanimous in their view that trading of mineral ore in this mining belt has largely if not singularly given rise to the nouveau riche class of society hereand if real estate sales figures are a measure of prosperity the mining belt is riding on the wave of this newlyacquired disposable money generated through the mining trade legal or illegal mining trade generates a lot of black money as real estate is the only source which can absorb a lot of black money the increased demand for investment in real estate has led to this situation where there has been an almost 500 rise in property prices over the last 78 years a leading chartered accountant from curchorem told toi he added that 200250 of this rise was fictitious largely due to the black money factor curchorembased corporate management consultant rajendra kakodkar is however of the view that though the mining windfall has contributed to affluence in goa the riches from eastern goa have contributed to the land price spiral but is more evident in other parts of the statein the last decade dwelling and commerceoriented cities as well as tourismbased beaches registered a sevenfold rise in land prices expectations of megadevelopments around mopa made the land there rise up in cost 10 times more in contrast the land prices in mining areas have gone up only four times this could be because the pollution traffic jams and hazards here have made residents migrate westwards or invest in properties elsewhere kakodkar said nevertheless the increased demand for real estate in curchorem and the consequent spiraling of its prices there can be illustrated from the following instancewhile an office space in a centrallylocated place in curchorem was priced at 8000 per sq m in 2004 hardly seven years down the line offices in the building located in the same area are now being offered at a preconstruction rate of 45000 per sq m industry experts are of the view that a correction in prices will come about in the real estate market in curchorem and surrounding areas when there is pressure on prices to go down owing to low volumeschanging economic conditions will give rise to a need to sell these shops and apartments that were primarily purchased to clean out the black moneywhile this may not be a positive development for the overall economy at the macro level the corrected prices will at least render the rates which have now gone way beyond their reach affordable for the middle class a financial analyst succinctly pointed out