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Mohan Padmanabhan

While the West Bengal Government is the key facilitator, the project cost is being met by Bengal Shristi through fund-raising efforts.

DURGAPUR, Sept. 20

THE Rs 50-cr Durgapur City Centre Project, launched in January this year, is set for completion four months ahead of schedule in November.

Promoted by Bengal Shristi Infrastructure Ltd, a 51:49 joint venture between Asansol Durgapur Development Authority (ADDA) and Shristi Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd, the centre is coming up as a modern multi-facility, multi-utility urban plaza, spread over an area of 3 lakh sq. ft area.

Talking to newspersons here today on the sidelines of a seminar-cum-workshop to create awareness among potential investors in the different resource-rich districts of Bengal, Mr Partha Ghosh, Managing Director of Bengal Shristi, said the project was designed to suit the different business plans of potential investors, keeping in mind the purchasing power of the people of the Bardhaman-Durgapur-Asansol-Ranigunj belt in the State.

]He said a major breakthrough had been achieved by bringing renowned brands like Kodak India, Gautier and Reebok.

The construction is being done in three phases, with Phase I to be completed in November. Mr Ghosh said work on the two other phases would begin immediately and the entire project was likely to be completed by September 2003.

Phase I includes a space of 82,000 sq. ft, and the facilities being provided are shopping, commerce, entertainment, education, recreation, health, hospitality, and medical facilities. Spread over multi-level blocks, the complex has unit spaces ranging from 300 sq. ft. to 3150 sq ft. both AC and non-AC.

Located in the district of Bardhaman, Durgapur provides easy access from all the major towns of the hinterland, such as Ranigunj, Asansol, Bardhaman, Burnpur, Bankura, Birbhum, Shantiniketan and Dhanbad (in Jharkhand).

According to Mr Ghosh, Bardhaman has been ranked 15th in terms of market potential among the 411 districts in India. The planned open space will be dotted with parks, museum, entertainment multiplex and an amphitheatre.

Mr Ghosh said the various business models would encompass both franchisee and rental arrangements. While the West Bengal Government is the key facilitator, the project cost is being met by Bengal Shristi through fund-raising efforts.

Asked about the corporate objective, Mr Ghosh said Bengal Shristi, while operating on commercial principles, would, through the sale of marketable property, crystallize its objectives of developing social infrastructure in the State — commercial complexes, housing, roads and bridges, water and sewerage systems. Pointing out that the City Centre project would generate as many as 2000 new jobs straightaway, he said, in due course, Bengal Shristi would spread beyond the region.

He said that, apart from the Durgapur City Centre Project, the joint venture had undertaken other major projects, like the 110-acre township with all urban infrastructure development at Kalyanpur, Asansol and an 18-acre truck terminal at Mangalpur, Ranigunj. Two of the important projects taken up by Bengal Shristi outside West Bengal were the Slum Rehabilitation project at Dharavi, Mumbai and Karnataka Housing Board township.

A major project being taken up was the Asansol (Kalyanpur township programme in a 110-acre plot in collaboration with the Housing Development Board, Singapore. The project is estimated to cost anything between Rs 70 - 100 crore.

Flagging off the workshop to create investor awareness towards the City Centre, Mr Manoj Agarwal, District Magistrate, Bardhaman and Chairman of Bengal Shristi, said there has been a spurt in investment in the region during the last two years, making Durgapur an emerging industrial huts of the State.

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