West Bengal Urban Development Minister Firhad (Bobby) Hakim said on Saturday that “large buildings” were being viewed as a parameter for infrastructure and industrial development of a State.

Speaking at the inauguration of Home Front 2012 – a real estate expo, Hakim said: “People coming from outside will judge the level of industrialisation and development of a State through such large multi-storeyed buildings.”

The three-day expo, organised by the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India , was inaugurated on Saturday. The expo has nearly 40 participants that include real-estate developers of the region as well as some bankers.

According to Hakim, the State Government was planning to construct 33,000 houses for the economically weaker sections.

These units will come up areas such as Dunlop in the northern fringes of Kolkata, and in Sonarpur and Baruipur in the southern fringes of the city. Each of the blocks would comprise nearly 5,000 to 7,000 apartments.

Dwelling units, he said, will be built by the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority – a nodal urban development agency for Kolkata and suburbs along the banks of the river Hooghly — under the various Central government mass housing schemes.

> abhishek.l@thehindu.co.in

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