Tendering for the first “smart, theme city” project of the West Bengal government is expected to begin next month. Of the six proposed cities, bidding process will begin with the one at Baruipur (some 30 km west of Kolkata). Baruipur is being themed as a “senior citizen’s” city.
The five other smart theme cities include a sports city at Howrah (Kolkata’s twin city across the river Hooghly); a health and education city at Siliguri (in North Bengal); an industrial city in Asansol (206 km); the arts and culture one at Bolpur (155 km); and an analytics city at Kalyani (51 km).
“The Baruipur theme city project will go for bidding next month,” Sudip Datta, Chief Operating Officer, IIDC Ltd (formerly IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corp Ltd) told mediapersons on the sidelines of the Urban Infrastructure Conclave organised by The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI).
IIDC is the adviser to these six smart, theme cities have been conceptualised on the lines of the Centre’s smart city project.
According to Datta, the Baruipur project will come up on around 84 acres and will have a 99 acres lease. The new joint model of development of townships (with private developers) comes in place of the previous PPP model where the State government would offer the land as equity.
However, under the new model, land will be leased out and the developer will have to make the full payment (land cost) upfront ahead of taking possession.
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