ahemdabad paras pharma founder girish patel who made 900 crore by selling the homegrown fmcg company to british multinational reckitt benckiser in 2010 will invest rs 2000crore for building lowcost houses the 53yearold entrepreneur told et patels company viral gruh nirman llp in which he owns 50 stake will launch the township project at sanand near tata motors nano plant on the outskirts of ahmedabad a 170acre parcel of land 2 km away from the car plant will see 7000 residential units come up by 2021 for rural and urban workforce in sanand which is being pitched as the next gurgaon the eldest of the three siblings patel was running paras till it was bought by reckitt he sold the company known for brands like moov itch guard and krack for 3200 core he will begin work on the township project this year and will sign a memorandum of understanding mou with the state government during the forthcoming vibrant gujarat investment summit starting friday sanand the dusty town that borders gujarats throbbing financial capital of ahmedabad went for a 360degree transformation with the coming of nano in october 2008 so far ford motors hitachi hirel power electronics and bosch rexroth india have chosen sanand for their manufacturing facilities the industrial units in the town currently employ 38000 workers from ahmedabad and neighbouring villages housing has not kept pace with industrial development in the region workers commute for hours to reach their workplace and we hope to minimise the travel time which could enhance their productivity at the workplace patel said he would mentor the project to be executed by his son arpit and his partner nikul patel the units ranging from service apartments to two bhks would be priced between 9 lakh and 30 lakh the promoters expect corporates working in the region to opt for institutional buying for their staff that includes workers supervisors and managers people in the real estate business however have apprehensions about a 9lakh house in sanand unless a company has a perfect strategy to ensure good sales it would be difficult to attract migrant workers who think twice before investing there is a possibility of institutional sales or rental partnership but that would need to be backed with good schemes said a real estate consultant ahmedabad has witnessed a flood of townships in the last three years godrej tata and adani have already come up with projects in ahmedabad while arvind has been offering oneroomkitchen houses starting at 8 lakh all townships offering premium properties are facing tough times as sales have gone down there is a huge demand from lower middleclass section said another expert the indian affordable housing industry is expected to surge at a cagr of more than 46 during 20122014 as per a research by consulting firm rncos