The Hindu Business Line : PS Group to develop 4 SEZs

In the pipeline
Plan to develop four SEZs over the next two to three years in Chandigarh, Kolkata, Jaipur and Raipur.
The company will rope in foreign investors to fund the proposed projects.
The group has obtained formal approval for its IT SEZ in Chandigarh and in-principle approval for Jaipur SEZ

Our Bureau

Kolkata, Nov 27 The Kolkata-based real estate developer PS Group plans to invest nearly Rs 9,500 crore over the next three years to develop four Special Economic Zones in Chandigarh, Kolkata, Jaipur and Raipur.

“We plan to develop four SEZs over the next two to three years in Chandigarh, Kolkata, Jaipur and Raipur.

The Chandigarh SEZ will be developed on 27 acres of land while we would require nearly 250 acres each for the other three SEZs.

“We plan to invest nearly Rs 300-500 crore in Chandigarh alone. The other projects will attract investment of Rs 3,000-3,500 crore each,” Mr Pradip Chopra, Director, PS Group, told Business Line here today.

Foreign tie-ups

The company will rope in foreign investors to fund the proposed projects and has already “signed a deal” with a Singapore-based investor. Mr Chopra declined to name the investors.

“We have a non-disclosure agreement with the foreign investors. We are in talks with a few of them and have already signed a deal with a Singapore-based SEZ specialist.

Foreign investors can invest up to 75 per cent of the project cost,” he said.

Besides, foreign direct investment, PS Group will also look at other sources of funding, including debt, internal accruals and public issue.

Approvals

The group has obtained formal approval for its IT SEZ in Chandigarh and in-principle approval for the Jaipur SEZ.

The company is yet to receive clearance for its Kolkata and Raipur zones.

The one in Kolkata is expected to come up in the New Town Rajarhat area in the eastern fringes of the city.

The company has also entered into a 50:50 joint venture with another Kolkata-based real estate developer, Srijan Projects, to set up an IT park in Salt Lake’s Sector V area.

The investment is estimated at Rs 100 crore and the 16-storied building over 5,00,000 square feet of space is expected to be the tallest IT park in Kolkata.

Green building

PS Group also claims that the proposed project will be the second green building in India after Technopolis.

“Fortune 500 companies have decided to go for only green buildings. We will be incurring an extra construction cost of Rs 500 per square feet for this project. But the tenants are willing to pay higher rentals since the extra cost can be recovered from savings in energy cost,” Mr Chopra said.

The company expects some of the Fortune 500 companies to take up office space in the proposed IT park, likely to be operational in June 2008.

Srijan plans

Srijan Projects plans to invest nearly Rs 1,000 crore to develop an IT SEZ on 50 acres of land in Kona Expressway.

“We expect to receive approval from the Government within six months and the project will be completed in three years from the start of construction,” Mr Shyam Agarwal, Director, Srijan Projects, said.

The company is in talks with foreign investors from the UK, the US and Singapore for investment in this project.

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