Coming, a privately owned theme town near Kolkata

KOLKATA: Bengal is all set to get its first private theme city at Amtala in South 24-Parganas, 28km from Kolkata. The proposal by the

Ambuja Neotia

group is awaiting nod from the cabinet and comes a year after the Mamata Banerjee government cleared the decks for six theme-based cities to be built on a PPP (public-private partnership) model, but met with feeble response.

The new proposal also comes close on the heels of the government's offer to allow moderation of the existing land ceiling act for township projects spanning over 50 acres.

The

Ambuja-Neotia group

has already purchased 50 acres of land and has got the approval of the urban development department. “Once the project gets cabinet approval, the group will have to submit the detailed project report (DPR). After the DPR is approved, the developer can go on with the project,“ a senior officer from the ur ban development department said.

Sources in the state secretariat said that the proposal will come up in the cabinet very soon.

The theme chosen for the township is education. As per the state's policy, 25% of the township will be non-residential and dedicated to theme-based infrastructure and another 25% reserved for housing the economically weak. The state will finalize the size, specification and price of the residential apartments for the poor. The city will also have modern facilities like education and e-health system.

“After the cabinet approval, it will take us nine to 12 months to prepare the DPR. Once the DPR is cleared by the government it will take five to seven years to complete the project,“ said chairman of

Ambuja-Neotia

Group Harshavardhan Neotia.

On the project cost, Neotia said, “We are trying to develop a theme-based city focusing on health and education. We need to take into consideration many micro-level factors before the final estimation. However it will involve several hundred crores.“

“Though it was found that the private developer had made a contiguous land of more than 50 acres available for the project, there was lack of uniformity in the land they had acquired. Our engineers apprehended that the theme city might have an irregular shape after construction. The matter was discussed with the CM but she directed us to give the nod as the project ful fils the parameters set by the state. We are giving the clearance soon,“ the official said.

“The Amtala township is a dream project and the government will put in its best efforts so that other private entrepreneurs find interest,“ the official said.

According to the urban development department official, the government has taken several steps to boost the real estate sector. “We have rationalized circle rate and 10% higher Floor Area Ratio for green building. The same sop awaits buildings constructed within 500m of Metro rail projects. Companies like HP (Hewlett Packard); Pratt & Whitney , EY and Cisco have shown interest in participating in development of these themed cities and negotiations are on,“ the official said.