The Hindu Business Line : Bengal Shelter's mega book mall project attracts large publishers

Kolkata May 11 Kolkata's love affair with books is stuff made of legend, and bookshops in the lanes and bylanes of College Street in the vicinity of Calcutta University hold a special charm for all Kolkatans.

While the motley College Street bookshops will remain, a kind of permanent book fair is now coming up in the nearby College Street Municipal Market complex by way of a mega Book Mall.

The project is linked to the Rs 400-crore College Street Municipal Market redevelopment programme (extension work) taken up by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).

The old Municipal Market is housed in a century old heritage structure.

Bengal Shelter Housing Development Ltd, a joint sector company of the West Bengal Housing Board and Shelter Projects Ltd, in collaboration with the KMC, is now developing `Varnaparichay', the mega book mall, in a 10 lakh plus sq ft area, at a cost of Rs 289 crore.

Talking to Business Line here recently on the project, conceived as a PPP model, Mr Samar Nag, Managing Director of Bengal Shelter, said large publishers from all over the country have shown interest in picking up space at the multi-facility `Varnaparichay'.

The project, launched in February 2006, is scheduled for completion by 2010. Mr Nag said it will be handed over in phases.

Facilities

Besides an elaborate publishers' arena, containing an assembly of books, over and above a Basilica of rare books, the other facilities being created in the Mega Book Mall are a library-cum-reading room, book auction centre, book hospital, translation point, conference hall, gallery of book covers, multiplex, music shop, cafeteria, smoking zone and a multi-level car park.

Mr Nag said the project has taken off on a successful note with relocation of some 1,200 stall owners in the old municipal market to a nearby area in north Kolkata, in a record time of nine months. He said the stall owners will be back once the re-designed municipal market project is completed, with stalls allotted on the basis of entitlements, with the balance portion being leased out.

As per current estimates, Varnaparichay, designed by Hafeez Contractor, is expected to yield an annual turnover of over Rs 400 crore.

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