Elita Promenade - Keppel Puravankara

Review On Keppel Private Development Limited, Bangalore

Keppel Corporation of Singapore fame came to India to launch their maiden project Elita Promenade with Puravankara as a dummy partner. This project has been a sham right from the beginning though it promises "World class living spaces". Don't be mislead by their Singapore pedigree. Read on for just a few major glitches:

1. Delays: The Flagship India Project Elita Promenade - Construction has been delayed by over 9 months, no explanation, no communication and so far no word on penalty compensation that even the heavily one sided contract prescribes. Project was to have been delivered in Dec 2007, until Aug 2008 the construction is not completed for even the first few blocks, so far there is no electricity, no water and on top of it no information to the buyers what so ever.

   
   




2. Deviations: Karnataka government guidelines prescribes 6m x 3m of covered car park, Elita has openly violated these norms

   
   




3. Customer Hostile: Couldnt care less attitude towards customers. Be ready to hear wods like " Indians will get only this standard, you are not in Singapore. ". Anyways, they dont respond to mails, zero transparency. Representations have been made at the highest level within Keppel Organization - both at India & at Singapore. They have repeatedly denied to meet, in writing,  the Buyers representatives in groups.

   
   




4. No long term thinking - ex. No borewells in any of their projects,

   
   




5. Pathetic value for money - there are lot of Indian promoters who provide much better value for money. So dont just be mislead by the Singapore Brand name like me.

   
   




6. Completely ignore local conditions and interpret the agreement in the most convenient way. Esp give an excuse that their international stature will not allow such things(ex. we dont provide Bore wells, Digital TV - we didnt promise in contract, etc. etc.). Turn the tables again completely when you ask for International standards(like Piped gas, Common garbage disposal - these will not work in India).

   
   

Never mind that quite a few local builders actually fare much better in many many of the above respects.

1. Elita Keppel will not encourage any internal/external changes to the apartment. Pretext for external changes will be(even security related ones will be a big struggle - child unfriendly low balcony grills), you will not be even given options. Pretext for denying internal changes will be that, changes delay projects, never mind that they will skip deadlines anyway.

   
   




2. Usurious Interest rates - Elita demands 24% penal interest rate even though they collect all money in advance. You will not get a penny for all the delays from their size.

   
   




3. Centrally controlled from Singapore. Sleeping / dummy local partner Puravankara. Every decision is pointed back to Singapore. Local managers have no clue. The Singapore managers are not accessible

   
   

I was shocked to learn that they are launching Elita Horizon and that they are raising the bar on Internation Living, I am not sure whatever that means.

A word of advise to all prospective buyers of flats, never ever buy from Keppel. Don't buy Elita Horizon, unless you get bargain basement price. Even then,

a. PLEASE  READ THE CONTRACT! It will be heavily one sided by any standards, demand that all one sided terms be changed. Don't sign it if you are not comfortable. Have this reviewed by a lawyer.  They are not like any other Indian builder. They will hold the contract against you, every repeat EVERY term and clause. Walk away from it if they will not change the terms.

b. Be wary of every term in the agreement. Satisfy yourself with

c. Demand more details on the specifications.

 Size of apartment - be aware they sell on Super Built Up area not Carpet Area.

• Size of Car Parking - have that spelt out

  
  




• Water - backup options

  
  




• Have the specifications of apartment spelt out - we have been hit badly due to lose interpretation of all terms when it comes to delivery(like Tiles quality, Common area, Lifts etc.)

  
  




• Be wary of the penal interest rate terms

  
  




• Be wary of the payment terms - it is standard practice anywhere in the world to link payment to delivery, not with Elita run by Keppel

  
  

Indian citizens should not be taken for a ride by a Singapore Company which claims "International Standards" with no basis. Unfortunately there is no law today to hold such companies accountable. Avoid KEPPEL in India at any cost! Save yourself sleepless nights for the rest of your life.

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