Indonesian investors plan $350m township

Indonesia-based Ciputra and Salim groups have announced an investment of $350 million in an integrated satellite township in West Howrah.

The project under the garb of Kolkata West International City would be spread over 400 acres and would be a mix of residential and commercial complexes.

In the first phase, there would be row houses, semi-detached homes and bungalow style homes, which would take one and half years to be completed.

Subsequent phases would be a combination of high rise residential complexes as well as villas combined with commercial, retail, international healthcare services, family clubs, parks and recreation facilities.

Chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya said that this would be first foreign direct investment project in building a township in the country and the whole project would be completed in 10 years.

The project would house 1,50,000 families and factoring in all facilities would have a population of 7,50,000.

The total integrated township would have around 6,800 homes catering to the lower, middle and upper income groups.

Of this, about 7.5 per cent would be reserved for the economically weaker sections of the society.

Benny Santosa of the Salim group said, the project would be of international standard.

The Salim group along with the Ciputra group have developed 83,000 hectares of real estate across the globe.

The two companies have floated an Indian subsidiary, Beyond Limit International Ltd., for the Bengal township project. I R Ciputra of the Ciputra group said, West Bengal had an investor friendly atmosphere, which was one of the main reasons behind selecting the location for the project.

Bhattacharya also took the opportunity to announce forthcoming major projects in the state.

He said, the Salim group has finalised a two-wheeler manufacturing unit with a Chinese partner and identified Haldia for the project.Another company would be investing in a coal mixing plant, which would cater to all the power stations.

The investment in the project could be around Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion).

Further, the Ciputra group was also weighing the option of setting up a golf course with allied facilities in the state.