What has 27 floors of which six floors are dedicated to exclusive car parking, one floor for car maintenance, one floor for entertainment center comprising a mini-theatre with a seating capacity of 50 people, three floors of terrace gardens, three floors of healthclub, gym and swimming pool, two floors of glass fronted apartments for guests and an air space floor which will act as a control room for helicopters landing on the helipad above? No, it is not the latest luxurious hotel coming up in India but the design plan of Antilla, the new house of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, expected to be completed in 2008.
Yes, India's richest man, billionaire Mukesh Ambani new home is what few people can dream of, leave alone construct it: a 60-story vertical glass palace in Mumbai, complete with a helipad, health club, swimming pool and six floors of car parking space which can accommodate about 170 cars.
Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries and ranking within the top 15 on Forbes' list of the world's richest people - with an estimated fortune of $28 billion (£14 billion) - is reportedly spending $1 billion (£500 million) for the new home located in Altamount Road in posh south Mumbai (where real estate prices are now in the region of $1830 per sq ft), a price tag that would make it vie for the title of the most expensive home in the world.
The plot - 49,000 sq ft – was purchased in 2002 and the building will tower to 570 feet (over 170 mt tall), or the height of a 60-story residential building, but will have only 27 floors. Enough to earn it the title of the largest private residence in the world.
The top four floors, with a panoramic view of the city and the Arabian Sea beyond, are expected to be for Mukesh Ambani, his wife Nita, mother Kokilaben and the couple's three kids.
According to sources close to the family, around 600 staff will be employed at the house to wait on India's first industrial family. Two others floors will be exclusively for guests and a mini-theater.
Construction firm Leighton is working on the home, expected to be completed by September 2008. Leighton's fees will be about $110 million. Interior design, for which another foreign firm has been contracted in, is extra.
Meanwhile, construction is on in full swing so that the ballroom could at least be completed by this October, in time for Nita Ambani's birthday bash, the source said.
Though the Ambanis are refusing to comment anything on their new house, sources have claimed that it is to be named after the mythical island Antilla.
The family currently live in a 14-storey building, Sea Wind, at Cuffe Parade.
According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation officials, permission for the helipads has not been granted yet.
"The residential plans were approved three-four years ago. Two levels of basement have also been shown in the proposed project," Sudhir Shinde, deputy engineer at the BMC's building proposals department said.
Though many have criticized Ambani for opulent display of his wealth in a city which also shelters the biggest slum in Asia, Ambani has found favour with leading Mumbai-based architect Hafeez Contractor.
"This is a right way to build a private house in a congested city. A man like him in any other city would have 10 to 15 acres of land to himself. In a congested city, he wants to go high up and enjoy the view; the whole city becomes his open space," Contractor said.
"Ambani's choice will make high-rises more acceptable," he said. "I've been advocating high-rises that are environmentally friendly, since you occupy less space on the ground that can be used for gardens."
"Our wealthiest citizens used to hide their money," Contractor continued. "They would not drive their Mercedes, they lived in small apartments. Even Mr. Ambani's father lived in a small block of flats. They were afraid of the taxman. But that attitude has gone; Mukesh has made his money, and good for him if he wants to flaunt it."
India's economic boom has sent the wealth of many people soaring, who now are indulging in buying luxurious cars and posh homes in their attempt to ape the lifestyle of the wealthy of the west.
Interestingly, the extravagant lifestyle and purchasing habits of the high net worth individuals (HNWIs) has been frowned upon by the leftist-backed central government with Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh urging a life of austerity to the company CEOs recently.
Speaking at the annual general meeting of the industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) last month, Singh proposed an unusual model of austerity to his corporate audience, suggesting that "industry needs to be moderate in emoluments levels" as higher salaries, unless matched by rising incomes "across the nation,” would stoke disaffection amongst those outside of the growth parabola.
"You must work in a harmonious environment, an environment in which all citizens feel equally involved in processes of economic growth; an environment in which each citizen sees hope for a better future for him and for his or her children," he said.
"In a modern, democratic society, business must realize its wider social responsibility. The time has come for the better off sections of our society - not just in organized industry but in all walks of life - to understand the need to make our growth process more inclusive; to eschew conspicuous consumption; to save more and waste less; to care for those who are less privileged and less well off; to be role models of probity, moderation and charity," he added.
Singh said that electronic media beams rich lifestyles into villages and slums and highlights vulgar display of wealth. Apparently turned off by extravagant weddings and other parties thrown by the "rich and the famous" that "insults the poverty of the less privileged," he cautioned that "rising income and wealth inequalities, if not matched by a corresponding rise of incomes across the nation” can plant "the seeds of resentment in minds of have-nots" and "lead to social unrest."
"We cannot afford the wasteful lifestyles of the Western world," he said, reminding the industry that India, with over one billion people, still faces the problem of scarce natural resources on per capita basis.
The Prime Minister's remarks particularly hold truth in Mumbai, the financial capital of India, where the divide between the haves and have-nots is wide - a city that is home to some of India's richest industrialists, also has the largest slum population in the country - around 6.5 million of Mumbai's estimated 15 million residents.
According to social commentator and author Jerry Pinto, extravaganzas have always been expected from India's rich. "What always startles visitors to India is the contrast between abject poverty and ostentatious displays of wealth.... But there's no active resentment [among the poor], otherwise there would have been class wars years ago," Pinto pointed out.
However, Praful Bidwai, a newspaper columnist, thinks otherwise.
According to Bidwai, the divide between rich and poor was becoming acute and with "Mr. Ambani...building an edifice" to reflect his own ego, the "tide of anger about such absurd spending" would only keep growing.
"It will not go down well with the public," he warned.
Mumbai is home to the Dharavi slum which houses about 600,000 people in ramshackle buildings. Recently, the state government proposed to sell land below market prices and, as an incentive to create properties for the poor, said that for every sq mt of accommodation created for slum dwellers, developers will get 1.3 sq mt for commercial use.
The argument is that while slum dwellers will get flats in high-rise blocks, the rest of the land can be used for malls, middle-class apartment blocks and business parks.
