New town police station which is opened today. It's like sweet home. :lol:

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/new_town_police_station.jpg

Times of India

Looks hideous for a police station:nuts:.

Looks like a candy store

Trouble brewing? Hope construction at the IT SEZ does not face problems..

Leather complex turns threat to environment (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Leather-complex-turns-threat-to-environment/368926)

The Calcutta Leather Complex at Bantala in east Kolkata is in a mess as the common effluent treatment plant (CETP) at the complex is not functioning properly and the toxic waste is overflowing into adjoining areas, creating environmental hazards.
A portion of the 1,100-acre complex was earmarked as a special economic zone (SEZ) for information technology (IT) companies. But the pollution caused by the chemical effluent is affecting the construction activities taken up by many of these companies.

“The condition in the complex is so precarious that IT companies have started complaining against the tannery units. We have recently received a complaint from Cognizant Technology Solutions,” said Jagmohan Dalmiya, chairman of ML Dalmiya & Co Ltd, who was given the project under the Built-Operate-Transfer model.

The state IT Department has also started feeling the heat. “Several units have complained about the pollution. We have forwarded the matter to the Commerce and Industries Department,” IT Minister Debesh Das said.

Project to generate 180K jobs; phase I to be finished by 2011

Kolkata: Orion IT Parks on Sunday said its proposed infotech SEZ in Rajarhat will attract an investment of $1.2 billion over a 10-year period and generate nearly 180,000 jobs.
The project — which would come up on 155 acres at Rajarhat — would also have a ‘Japan village’ occupying 25 acres to create the ecosystem necessary for attracting large-scale Japanese investments. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Sunday laid the foundation stone for the venture.
Earlier this year, Orion had received formal SEZ status from the Board of Approvals (BoA) for an IT SEZ in Rajarhat that would come up on 70.8 acres. Company officials did not explain on Sunday whether it had kept the BoA informed of the increase in project area.
Orion Tech City director Sandhir Agarwal said the first phase of the venture would be completed by 2011. The hub had the potential to generate an annual business turnover of $5 billion. “We have identified 500 acres near Bagdogra airport. The project there will be four times bigger than the Rajarhat one. We are also looking at other areas for investment,” he added.
“I am particularly happy that Japan is taking interest in this (Rajarhat) project as West Bengal has the largest Japanese investment in the country,” Bhattacharjee said. Japanese ambassador Hideaki Domichi said he was impressed by Rajarhat. “I see a great potential for IT here,” he said.
Despite the great strides it has made in the past five years, Kolkata can still boast of only six major players in the IT space — TCS, Wipro, IBM, Cognizant, Tech Mahindra and HSBC Electronic Data Processing (the back office arm of HSBC Bank). TCS, IBM and Cognizant together account for more than 70% of Kolkata’s software exports. None of India’s major technology companies has established a presence in the city since 2007.
Bengal has already given up on its aim of emerging as one of India’s top-three IT states by 2010. IT minister Debesh Das has said that the state is targeting software exports of Rs 10,700 crore in 2009-2010. This would give Bengal a nationwide share of just over 4% on March 31, 2010.

Times of India

The new trams

photo from TOI epaper

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/8199/thenewtramtoirr4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Photo cc CdeHaan @flickr

A u/c building near Park st.
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/2915767560_f70b97d644_o.jpg

The new trams

photo from TOI epaper

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/8199/thenewtramtoirr4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Looks great! Much better than those clunkers they got puttering about.

Active Acres off E M Bypass

gj94vpMorHo

http://www.axiomestates.com/real-estate/properties.php?city=Kolkata&location=off%20E%20M%20Bypass&property=Active%20Acres&curr=inr

More news on Orion IT park. Business Standard


..
a 155-acre commercial and integrated SEZ with a focus on information technology (IT), in the presence of the central minister of external affairs Pranab Mukherjee, bengal’s minister of housing and public health engineering Gautam Deb, minister of IT Debesh Das, and the IT department secretary Siddharth.

The proposed SEZ will have 18 million sq ft of commercial space and is expected to create employment opportunities for nearly 180,000 individuals.

According to Bhattacharjee, Orion developers will get all assistance to ensure the project is commissioned in time.

The inauguration coincided with the laying of the foundation stone for a Japan village within Orion Techcity, by the minister of external affairs Pranab Mukherjee and the Japanese ambassador Hideaki Domichi.

This dedicated 25 acre 'Japan village' will serve as a self-sufficient Zen paradise for discerning multinationals, within Orion Techcity.

Orion Techcity will be positioned as the largest IT SEZ in eastern India, located in the heart of eastern India's IT corridor, Rajarhat, only 5 km from the international airport, on the main New Town road.

The project is expected to attract around $1.2 billion investment over 10 years.

Around 70 acres will be dedicated to IT companies, 20 acres for an research and development (R&D) laboratory to spearhead cutting-edge technology in the telecom sector including 4G and Wimax. The project will also dedicate 25 acres for a Japan village, 25 acres for the hospitality and services area, and 15 acres for non-IT commercial offices, thereby positioning itself as a commercial, leisure, recreation, hospitality and retail destination.

The Japan village will house language training centres, BPO facilities, service apartments, lifestyle amenities and leisure concepts, expected to help reproduce a customised IT and ITeS environment to attract Japanese companies.

The IT SEZ, backed by 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI), will enjoy tax benefits, Bhattacharjee noted.

A West Bengal IT department and WBHIDCO initiative, around 70 per cent of the project will have greenery and a mix of cost, comfort and convenience. This city within a city will have its own water, power, sewerage, and renewable energy support infrastructure.

The development of Orion Tech City will enhance opportunities for companies seeking infrastructure for commercial space in Rajarhat, where there are upcoming developments of residential units in large scale. The project is also expected to benefit companies engaged in research and development in biotechnology and telecommunications, such as 4G and Wimax, futuristic Japanese business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, IT security and data warehousing solutions, and Bengal Innovation Incubation Centre to help incubate new technological ideas for inclusive growth.

The Japan finishing school on the premises will train students in the Japanese language and culture to handle the upcoming IT business from Japan.

More news on Orion IT park. Business Standard

Great project! Largest integrated IT investment in Kolkata till date.Guess this would be on the land they have acquired in Jagdishpur

Great News!!! Remember those "cute" little Tara Cars from Bengal, well their inc. is going to turn Kolkata green. But I wonder if they would replace those ugly menace from Delhi with the sleek looking Tara cars or just replace the engine of those autoricketies with the battery powered ones.

^^Innovation is good. If these are introduced what would happen to the bakshish that goes into the party coffers every morning from these vehicles emitting poison? That is not something that is going to stop overnight is it?

The DLF-Hilton JV is on the lookout for properties in East and South India, which includes cities like Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. DLF has already acquired a six acre plot in Kolkata and plans to invest USD 200 million in the city to set up a five star hotel. The proposed hotel will have 450 rooms and is scheduled for completion by early 2011.

Source: http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/detailNews.aspx?aid=2313&sid=1

The DLF-Hilton JV is on the lookout for properties in East and South India, which includes cities like Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. DLF has already acquired a six acre plot in Kolkata and plans to invest USD 200 million in the city to set up a five star hotel. The proposed hotel will have 450 rooms and is scheduled for completion by early 2011.

Source: http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/detailNews.aspx?aid=2313&sid=1

^^ It has been over more than 6 months that they have the land.
Hopefully construction has started now

US firm plans to set up photovoltaic lab (http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=12&theme=&usrsess=1&id=226222)

KOLKATA Oct. 9: A US-based company is planning to set up a photovoltaic laboratory in India, which will help to certify and test the photovoltaic panels (PVs) that are manufactured in the country.
Photovoltaic technology converts light directly into electricity and is a key renewable energy source used to provide electricity.
Owing to the huge demand for Underwriters Laboratory certification of the PVs in India, company officials feel it is important to set up this laboratory at the earliest.
Mr Manish Bhatngar, director of Underwriters Laboratory commercial operations, said: “Within the next six months we will set up this laboratory in India.” Nearly $4-5 million will be invested to establish the laboratory, the entire cost will be borne by the private company.
Company authorities have not decided yet if they will build this laboratory in Kolkata.
“Till now we have not decided whether we will locate this laboratory in Kolkata, as we are looking at some more options to situate this laboratory in cities like Hyderabad and New Delhi,” Mr Bhatnagar added.
With the increase in demand for power supply, experts said there is a need to construct more PV manufacturing units to meet the electricity shortage in rural areas. They said since this company is the only national certification body, there is a need to establish such a laboratory in India. They added that there would be no need to export PVs to foreign countries for certification if the laboratory is set up here. More than 60 companies manufacture these PVs in India.

Metro Cash & Carry gets Bengal licence (http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?tp=on&autono=47811)

Metro Cash & Carry, the German wholesale retailer, received its Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) licence today on condition that the minimum bill amount for Metro Cash & Carry, per item and per customer, should not be less than Rs 1,000 and only to traders with Regulated Market Committee (RMC) licence.

Left Front constituent Forward Bloc (FB), which runs West Bengal's agriculture marketing board, and CPI(M) leaders, today decided to renew Metro Cash & Carry's Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) licence, but to protect small traders in the city, the State Agriculture Marketing Board decided to impose the conditions on Metro.

Metro Cash & Carry, on its part, will open its first outlet in Kolkata in 6-8 weeks.

According to a release issued by Metro after receiving its APMC licence, "We are keen to start our operations to demonstrate the benefits of our business-to-business concept to our professional business customers in Kolkata. We have approximately 350 trained local employees to serve our registered professional business customers. We should have the outlet fully up and running in six–eight weeks."

In addition, Metro will roll out a special 'Kirana' training program to help kiranas enhance their business by educating them in terms of pricing policy, goods storage, assortment as well as marketing issues and microfinance.

Previously, the company has invested in training programs for more than 40,000 sheep farmers as well as 1,150 fishing crews from India and helped to vaccinate and de-worm over 900,000 sheep and goats.

Earlier Forward Bloc had suggested the minimum bill amount for Metro Cash & Carry, per item and per customer, at Rs 5,000. The German wholesaler's representatives, however, declined to accept the condition at a meeting with the government and the Bloc-run agri-marketing board. Metro officials had said accepting the term would go against the business strategies the company followed in other cities.

Metro's outlets in Bangalore and Hyderabad have a Rs 1,000 minimum bill threshold, but it is for multi-item sale.

Two other conditions reportedly are that Metro cannot enter the retail market or engage in contract farming. Another is that its buyers must obtain the board's licence.

Also, Metro reportedly is expected to abide by the provisions of the Agricultural Produces Marketing Control Act, which means it must procure farm goods from board-run regulated markets and provide regular information on its stocks and prices to board officials.

Metro Cash & Carry entered the Indian market in 2003. Besides the forthcoming new outlet in Kolkata, the company operates two wholesale centres in Bangalore, one in Hyderabad and one in Mumbai.

"Metro Cash & Carry wholesale centres are open exclusively for professional business customers, all of them duly registered and provided with a customer identification card. This means that the company does not sell to household customers. Metro caters to target groups of hotels, restaurants, caterers as well as Kirana stores and other small retailers by offering a wide assortment of 18,000 articles comprising of food and non food products," Metro's release added.

US firm plans to set up photovoltaic lab (http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=12&theme=&usrsess=1&id=226222)

Bengal at least is going strong in the renewable energy department..

RMZ Ecospace @ New Town (http://www.rmzcorp.com/officeproject.asp?city=Kolkata&project=37)

http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/6503/es5av6.jpg

http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/6838/es3rl5.jpg

http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/195/es1stuh3.jpg

Sec V quivers in global quake (http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081011/jsp/calcutta/story_9914566.jsp)

Bengal’s tech hub has begun to get that sinking feeling as markets worldwide take a tumble, bringing down with them some of the financial giants that outsource business to Sector V companies.

“These are really bad times. We fear for our jobs,” said an employee of an IT company in the Salt Lake Electronics Complex.

He should know, having represented his company in projects with several banks and financial institutions in the US over the past five years.

The techie brigade, tuned in to developments in the US and Europe ever since Lehman Brothers went belly-up and a wobbly Merrill Lynch tottered into the arms of Bank of America, had initially thought that the financial shake-up was just a passing phase. But the developments over the past two weeks have left most of them shaken.

“When there is a crisis in any industry, the IT budget is invariably pruned and projects dry up,” said a senior official of a technology solutions company.

As offices opened on Friday after the Puja holidays, the topic of discussion among the Sector V crowd was not how everyone enjoyed the festive break but how long the churn would continue.

Global banks and financial institutions contribute around 40 per cent of the Rs 4,500 crore worth of business that is annually outsourced to the 225-odd companies operating out of Sector V. Most IT companies in Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s showpiece tech township cater to companies in the US, where the slide began.

Companies don’t reveal the names of their clients but Metro found out that some of the troubled entities in the world of finance — including Wachovia and Merrill Lynch — along with Citigroup, Credit Suisse and JPMorgan Chase receive tech support from Sector V.

“Companies like Cognizant Technology Solutions and Tata Consultancy Services have high exposure to the banking and finance sector, especially through their Calcutta operations,” a source said.

Technology solutions companies develop various products to facilitate transactions in the world of finance, besides providing annual maintenance support, data management services and new software to make their client servicing systems more effective.

According to an industry source, in the short term most contracts would be “slow in maturing, if not scrapped”.

“Outsourcing decisions in most companies are taken by the chief financial officers. Given the scenario, most of them will be unwilling to take a call right now. They will wait for the crisis to blow over and contracts could, therefore, take longer to materialise,” said Kalyan Kar, the managing director of Acclaris.

The irony is that IT companies in Sector V had been hoping for higher export revenues after the rupee went down against the dollar.

But some analysts see a silver lining in the cloud.

“Technology solutions companies operating out of India will benefit from the reorganisation and restructuring that is an integral part of the process of mergers and acquisitions that has begun worldwide. Some of the financial institutions that haven’t outsourced business to this country so far will now be forced to do so to cut costs,” said a senior IBM official.

Why do some journalists always refer to Salt Lake or Sector V as Buddhadeb's "showpiece" township? While I can get the underlying sarcasm, repetitive sarcasm makes the journalists sound stupid or more like a case of sour grapes/jealousy.

Why do some journalists always refer to Salt Lake or Sector V as Buddhadeb's "showpiece" township? While I can get the underlying sarcasm, repetitive sarcasm makes the journalists sound stupid or more like a case of sour grapes/jealousy.

I agree. There can be sarcarm or genuine praise, however anything oft repeated can be very boring. There is nothing "unique" in Sector V to showcase while comparing with other tech hubs in the country

Tram

photos copyright maverick.mistair

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/4521/kolkatatram1maverickmiskt1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/1553/kolkatatram2maverickmisaw1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Another project held up by Mamata's party

Protests stall housing estate makeover

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081013/jsp/calcutta/story_9960910.jsp

The brand of disruptive politics that forced the shift of the Nano factory from Singur has stalled the re-development of a 17.2-acre plot closer home in Bonhooghly.

A high court order in early August has failed to facilitate the demolition of the dilapidated buildings in the Bonhooghly tenement scheme and construction of new ones in their place. The rest of the plot will have 25 buildings, 16 of which will be 16-storey towers.

The project, named Eden Lakeside, is a joint venture of the Calcutta-based Eden City group, London-based REIT Asset Management and the state government. The re-development was to start last year, when the 750 tenants were served notices to vacate their flats.

The delay has come as a blow for the 125 residents who complied. Biplab Chakraborty, 39, and his aged mother, for example, had been counting days to move into their new 645-sq ft flat with modern amenities ever since they shifted from their 248-sq ft flat.

What now stands between them and their dream home is the agitation by the Trinamul-led Bonhooghly Tenement Bashosthan Rakkha Committee, which is determined to not let the re-development project commence.

“Most of us are willing to grab this wonderful opportunity. But even if 10 people refuse to vacate their flats, the project cannot start. The local Trinamul leadership has been doing everything to not let the project happen,” said Chakaborty, who has been living in a rented flat in the area with his mother.

“The developers should build the flats where the residents will be rehabilitated first and then start work on the rest of the project. That way nobody will have to move to an alternative accommodation. The government has vested interests and we will not succumb to its pressure,” said a local Trinamul leader.

A team of experts conducted a study on behalf of the developers and concluded that the project cannot be executed in parts. The dilapidated buildings, at the centre of the plot, must be razed for the reconstruction to begin.

The high court, too, dismissed a petition by 50 tenants who demanded that the state provide them alternative accommodation till the re-development work is completed.

The developers will pay each displaced tenant Rs 2,000 per month towards rent till their new flats are ready, the tentative time frame for which is two years.

“The tenants will get well-appointed flats that are twice the size of their current ones free. Plus the developers will pay their rent while the construction is in progress. What more can anybody ask for?” said Binay Krishna Biswas, the minister of state for refugee relief and rehabilitation.

“We do not trust the government or the private developers. It is difficult to find accommodation nearby and I can’t move from Bonhooghly,” said Rabi Roy, a petitioner.

Amitava Nandy, the Lok Sabha MP from the area, said the matter could not resolved at three all-party meetings, attended by Bengal’s leader of the Opposition, Partha Chatterjee.

“The Rs 400-crore project is being held to ransom for political gain. The costs are increasing rapidly,” Sachchidananda Rai, the managing director of the Eden City Group, told Metro.

Meanwhile Mamata has promised to rock the city with her goons!

Mamata backs tainted leader

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081013/jsp/calcutta/story_9958758.jsp

Land row resolved, more space for fairs

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081013/jsp/calcutta/story_9960917.jsp

The land dispute between the Calcutta Stock Exchange Association and the civic body has been settled out of court, paving the way for a bigger Book Fair ground on the Bypass than on the Maidan.

The breakthrough arrived at a meeting between the association and the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) — held in the presence of chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and industry minister Nirupam Sen — at Writers’ Buildings on October 3.

The CMC got back the 10 acres beside ITC Sonar Bangla, on the Bypass, that it had been claiming from the association over the past five years. The dispute was pending in the high court. The civic body paid the association Rs 4.4 crore as price for five acres.

The rest will be put on auction and 75 per cent of the sale proceeds will go to the association’s kitty.

Corporate parks to solve Salt Lake space problems

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/Corporate_parks_to_solve_Salt_Lake_space_problems/articleshow/3587885.cms

Two corporate parks are coming up in Salt Lake, with modern facilities - one over 4.3 acres and the other over 0.25 acres - for which a whopping Rs 400 crore is being pumped in. With service and financial sectors looking for more and more office space, the state government realised that a cluster of office space would become essential, said a senior official of Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). Sector V is full of IT companies, therefore there is a huge demand from other sectors, which are also keen to get office spaces in and around Kolkata.

Two plots under KMDA are being used for this. One is a 4.3-acre plot adjoining Unnayan Bhawan and another a 0.25-acre plot close to Charnock City. A private company - Dhoot Developers Private Limited - has already been selected and a joint sector company has been formed with KMDA to implement the project.

"We have long been flooded with demands for more space. This is directly related to the growing investment in the state. And, with more and more economic growth, the demand is ever increasing. Offices of manufacturing units, service sectors, banks, central government undertakings and even IT can be housed in these two parks," the official added. "There might be a few IT companies too, but that is not the main focus," he said.

A business park is already coming up at Nonadanga, which is much larger in terms of both space and scope - a cluster that includes, apart from offices, multiplex, residential and commercial complexes.

Photo cc purirsagar @flickr

Bel Air u/c
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/2915844608_5c035ee89d.jpg

I was doing some real estate survey in the different parts of the city. Basically I was looking for some investment in real estate in Kolkata when I came back to the city after 3 years. I gathered a whole bunch of information. But in the threads in skyscraper city I found hardly any mention of the southern parts of EM Byepass specially of Baishnavghata Patuli and Kamalgazi , which are the 2 important junctions and excellent investment destinations.

Is anybody interested. In that case I can share some facts.

Hi, please let me know what type of info is available for sharing and the cost if any.

Regards, mespl@vsnl.com S K Banerjee

Cruise tourism in Bengal may attract global investors (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Cruise_tourism_in_Bengal_may_attract_global_investors/articleshow/3586677.cms)

KOLKATA: The Rs 125 crore Ganga Heritage River Cruise Project in West Bengal may attract private investors, including foreign players, after the Centre's approval and sanction of Rs 20.42 crore in support of it.

The Heritage River circuit project would offer a river cruise to visit renovated tourism destinations and allied services and support centres along the Ganges, starting from Kolkata and going upstream to Murshidabad and downstream to the Sunderbans.

"We expect good response from private players as the government has given clearance for the heritage river cruise project. The Damaodar Valley Corporation promoted tourism plan in Maithon and Panchet also envisaged interest from international players," IL&FS vice-president Sudip Datta said.

The project is a sincere effort by the Centre and the state government to identify historical places and revitalise them after a gap of many years.

The Request for Qualification for developers has been invited and the final date of submission is October 15.
IL&FS Infrastructure development corporation Limited is the consultant to implement the project in PPP model.

great pics. Finally some color photographs of the tram. they look refurbished though. But still, I am glad its different.

Yes, they look good and blend with the lights and the color. Hope they are maintained well.

Just wondering if there could have been a better solution. With this decision from AI, hope BA increases their flights from the city.


AI's Kolkata service to London axed (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/AIs_Kolkata_service_to_London_axed/articleshow/3596985.cms)

KOLKATA: Air India has decided to ground its thrice weekly Kolkata-London service from October 28, barely three months after it was reintroduced this
July. The pullout will slash connectivity between Kolkata and London by half, with only British Airways continuing to offer a direct service.

AI officials cited poor load due to inconvenient flight schedule for the decision to suspend operations on the sector. The move comes a day after private carriers Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines decided to join hands and service markets in a bid to rationalise operational costs. Saddled with mounting losses, AI has begun to slash flights with poor yield. "The Kolkata-London flight was axed as it was hardly drawing passengers," an AI official said.

Citing an inconvenient landing slot at Heathrow Airport for the poor load, the official explained that US-bound passengers did not board the flight as it entailed an eight-hour wait in London due to night curfew on flights. Over 75% of London-bound passengers are transit travellers to the US and Canada.

In the past seven flights, the average passenger load factor on the sector was less than 15%. Although the seven flights had a cumulative capacity of 1,953 seats, only 270 flew to London. On Tuesday, the London-bound flight took off with just 22 passengers. The Airbus 330-200 has 279 seats.

AI had introduced the Kolkata-London operation in June 2005, with a Boeing 777-800 aircraft. Later, a B747 aircraft was introduced due to perennial technical snags in the B777 aircraft. In early May 2008, the service was suspended due to the shortage of pilots. The flight was reintroduced on July 28 with an A330 aircraft.

"We are currently losing Rs 40 lakh per flight. While this affects the airline's yields, it is particularly hurting now because of the current market turmoil," an AI operations official said.

AI officials said the carrier had sought a convenient time slot from the authorities at Heathrow but failed to attain it. Now, with the airline hitting the airpocket, AI has decided to suspend operations on the sector with no time-frame for its reintroduction.

Passengers already booked on flights beyond July 27 will be endorsed on flights from Delhi or Mumbai. "The AI domestic network will be used to transport the passengers to Delhi or Mumbai," the AI official said.

Rina Chatterjee, who was booked on the last flight on October 26, is relieved to have just about made it before the service is withdrawn. "I am going to New York. Being wheelchair-bound, I do not know what would have happened if I had to change the aircraft in Mumbai or Delhi. It's unfortunate that the service is being withdrawn," she said.

AI's CCU LHR flight was never a good option and another example of AI's peculiar flight schedules.

Air India needs to provide seamless connectivity between Kolkata - EWR, JFK and LHR through Bombay and Delhi.

Hopefully Jet Airways will introduce a nonstop flight to Brussels in the near future.

E-eye on Howrah bridge - Cameras to monitor landmark 24x7 (http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081015/jsp/calcutta/story_9970440.jsp)


http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/5126/15717819ux5.jpg
Sixty five years after it was built, Howrah bridge is coming under hi-tech surveillance for traffic safety and overall security.

Calcutta Port Trust (CPT), the custodian of the iconic structure, has installed six state-of-the-art closed-circuit cameras on the bridge, which was first thrown open to the public in February 1943.

The high-resolution cameras, which can rotate 360 degrees and capture the registration number of moving vehicles, will start operation within a week.

The CPT had conducted a successful trial run for a month before Puja.

“All major bridges in the world have a surveillance system. It’s time Rabindra Setu (better known as Howrah bridge) too, had one,” said CPT chairman A.K. Chanda.

“Though our primary task is to check rash driving and accidents on the bridge by identifying vehicles violating traffic norms, the cameras will also help us boost security following the recent blasts across the country,” said a CPT official. “Incidents of vagabonds climbing atop the bridge can also be checked once the system starts functioning.”

The cameras have been installed in a way that the entire 705-m-long and 30-m-wide structure can be monitored 24x7. Two of them have been placed on the underside of the bridge to track the movement of barges, steamers and boats on the Hooghly.

The other four are on the bottom boom chord (the first layer of beams) — one at each end and two in the middle. They will monitor vehicular movement on the bridge.

CPT officials said images captured by the cameras would be monitored round the clock. “A team has been trained in monitoring the images by changing camera angles through remote control,” an official said.

The images will be preserved at the CPT headquarters in Fairlie Place for the benefit of state-run security agencies.

CPT has spent around Rs 60 lakh on the project. Similar cameras will soon be installed at Netaji Subhas Dock and Kidderpore Dock, two other gateways to the city.

The authorities first thought of bringing the bridge under the electronic scanner after the mast of a barge, coasting along a wrong channel during high tide, rammed into the underside on June 24, 2005.

The incident left part of the structure “overstressed”. Around Rs 50 lakh had to be spent to restore the bridge to its normal condition.

A survey by Rites had revealed that the “overstress” was alarming, more than 10 per cent of the bridge’s load-bearing capacity.

“Another study was later commissioned to measure the traffic load on the bridge. Based on the report, the state transport department had banned movement of heavy vehicles on Rabindra Setu,” said a CPT official

Just wondering if there could have been a better solution. With this decision from AI, hope BA increases their flights from the city.


AI's Kolkata service to London axed (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/AIs_Kolkata_service_to_London_axed/articleshow/3596985.cms)

Interesting would be to take a statistic of number of passengers and also the number of AI passengers who fly out of Kolkata to another city in India (like Delhi/Mumbai) and then take a transit to US/UK. That study would give AI some sort of better perspective of the real picture.

Birla retail chain earns CPM ire


http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/5398/getimagebm7.jpg
Kolkata: After fighting with Forward Bloc over the issue of giving licence to Metro Cash & Carry, the CPM is now throwing a spanner in the opening of three retail supermarket stores under the brand name More in North 24-Parganas.
Even as pressure tactics are being used by local CPM, local municipalities refused Aditya Birla Retail Limited (ABRL) — under the Aditya Birla Group — a trade licence for the stores. Two of them are in Birati and one in Italgachha, near Dum Dum.
Anurag Srivastava, vice-president of the Aditya Birla Group for eastern India, has written to chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Wednesday, seeking his intervention.
The CM is learnt to have taken the issue up with municipal affairs minister Asok Bhattacharya on Thursday to ensure that the licence is given.
In his letter, Birla mentioned how his officials had been assured by CPM MP Amitava Nandy that the licences would be issued after the Pujas.
However, when the company approached the local municipalities, they refused to give clearance, not having received any such directive from Nandy. The MP later told them that clearance could not be given unless instructions came from the state government.
ABRL officials in Kolkata, though, refused to comment. But Nandy confirmed that such a conversation had indeed taken place. “Though we have no problems with Indian companies opening retail stores, but some directive must be given to the store authorities so that these do not affect local traders,” he said. Such a demand had been raised at the local level, too, he added.
According to Nandy, it is one thing to open such stores in the heart of the city but another in the suburbs and close to markets as the interest of small traders might be hampered. “It is for this reason that the state government should set down some norms regarding where the stores can be opened and what items they can sell,” the MP said.
All this has cost the company dear. The ABRL authorities mentioned in their letter that the internal work of the stores had been done on Nandy’s assurance. It is learnt that the authorities had also received threats that there would be law and order problems if the stores were opened. “I have instructed police to give protection in case such a situation arises,” said home secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti.
Left parties have no objection to Indian companies opening retail or wholesale stores or foreign companies opening wholesale stores. The Left is against foreign companies in retail. But there are constant pressures from the local level regarding the opening of such stores

Photo cc Jason @picasaweb

Where is it? Looks like a small shopping plaza..

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/Kolkata007.jpg

Photo cc Jason @picasaweb

Where is it? Looks like a small shopping plaza..



It is on Park Circus E M Bypass connector near 4 No bridge

Yes, this is right at the junction leading to Tangra. Steel junction is right next to it. You can also see the Srijan residential towers behind. There is a very similar structure to the one under construction on the other side of the road oppposite this one.

Country's first software product certification facility in Kolkata soon (http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Country--s-first-software-product-certification-facility-in-Kolkata-soon/375201/)


The Union ministry of communications and IT has decided to set up in Kolkata a certification facility for software security products that will be the first of its kind in the country, according to BJ Srinath, senior director of the ministry's Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In). The city already has a government testing centre for software products.

This would be crucial for state governments and various government institutions as it will create security zones for the various e-governance applications, thereby curbing cyber crimes in e-governance.

"We are creating necessary infrastructure in areas of testing and certification, which will save the Indian software developers working in security products the time and cost of getting certification from foreign countries. It will substantially lower the cost of development for Indian software companies," Srinath said.

Total budget approved by the ministry for the accreditation and product testing facility is close to Rs 8 crore, said Srinath.

Srinath was participating in a seminar on cyber security organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata on Saturday.

Security product certification at present is available in countries like Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia.

India does not have any certification infrastructure so far, the reason being presence of very few Indian software products.

Srinath said, "Non-availability of certification infrastructure has forced Indian software companies to get certification from abroad. The IT ministry is looking to start a full-fledged IT security product testing and certification process in India. The Indian certification would be admissible in all the 28 countries which have Common Criteria Recognition Arrangement (CCRA)."

Looks like the mega IT project at Jagadishpur is heading the Singur way. The farmers apparently don't want to give up land. Mamata Bannerjee's party is siniffing a new "agitation". ForumProjects and Dubai based ETA are worried that the project will not happen. The government has apparently said that if farmers are not "willing" then the project wont happen. So there goes Infosys and Wipro expansion.

It is indeed interesting that the empowerment of farmers by the Left Front is now standing in the way of the Left Front's vision of industrialization.

Farmers protest mega IT project

Toi epaper

The state’s plans to acquire 332 acres for the IT hub at Rajarhat has run into a storm of protest. Why is the state bent on acquiring fertile farmland, wonder farmers. After facing resistance, the govt may be having second thoughts.


Farmers protest - photo from TOI epaper

http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/639/farmersprotestbk6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Sunrise Symphony | New Town

http://ashrayproperties.com/images/sunrise_symphony_ele_b.jpg

Sunrise Greens | New Town

http://www.surekaproperties.com/images/sunrise_greens_b.jpg

Sunrise Towers | Beliaghata

http://kolkataskyline.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/sunrisetowers.jpg

this ones for the environmetalists..

Source: TOI EPaper


COMBATING POLLUTION URBAN FOREST

KMC plans 41-km ‘green belt’ along Kolkata’s canals

Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey | TNN

Kolkata: Imagine leaving the smoke and grime of the city behind and driving down a never-ending stretch lined with manicured fruit trees and medicinal plants. Sounds like a fairy tale? If a Kolkata Municipal Corporation plan is implemented, this could soon turn into a reality.
The civic body, under its Kolkata Environment Improvement Project (KEIP) funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), has planned green belts that will run along three key stormwater canals for a total length of 41 km. The three channels are the Tollygunge-Panchanna canal that sends sewer water from Jadavpur, Santoshpur, Dhakuria and Mukundapur to the Chowbagha pumping station and finally flushes it out into the Bidyadhari; the Churial canal, which is the only canal in Kolkata that flows from east to west from Joka to the Hooghly and Monikhali or Begor canal beyond Behala.
As the success of the ambitious project will depend on a number of environmental factors, KMC has roped in horticulture experts to handle the nitty-gritty. The execution will be in the hands of a private operator and tenders have been floated for this already. The final selection will be made by end-October and work will start next month.
KEIP officials are in touch with the state forest department to select the right kind of fruit trees, medicinal plants and other eco-friendly shady trees that will be suitable for such a drive.
The green stretches have been divided into type-one and type-two forestry zones. While the former will have fruit trees and medicinal herbs, the latter stretch will be home to bigger, shady trees.
A wide range of fruits that thrive in Kolkata weather — coconut, amla, jackfruit, mangoes like Himsagar, Amrapali and Mallika, guava, lemons such as batabi, kagzi and pati — will be planted. Popular medicinal plants like aloe vera, kalmegh, sarpagandha and aswagandha have been shortlisted.
“What sets this project apart from other green drives is the fact that fruit trees will be planted. This will make the project self-sustaining, at least to an extent. We have chosen fringe areas because it is difficult to get land in the city proper. While in most places the width of the green verge will be five metres, in some places it will be three metres, as we have to ensure smooth traffic flow as well,” said Debashish Guha, administrative officer of KEIP.
As there is a chance the green verge may be destroyed, KEIP has imposed a condition that the executor will have to maintain the entire belt till 2010. Watering and manuring the plants, administering medicines, pruning and cleaning of weeds and, above all, protecting the trees from encroachers will be the responsibility of the executor.
Forest officials are excited. “It is a unique project as it doesn’t talk about landscaping and ornamental plants only but involves planting fruit trees and other shady forest species. We are very happy to help because it is only through such greening projects that we will be able to counter pollution,” said Nilanjan Mullick, deputy conservator of forests, urban recreational forestry.

Sounds like a fairy tale?

Source: TOI EPaper

Yes, it does. These guys cannot even maintain a small park in BBD Bag. They don't have the credentials or competence to do this canal green belting. Also the canal banks are a favourite target of migrant shanty dwellers aided by political parties and police. The track record of the private sector in social causes and issues is poor. They can probably fund, but to get involved in policing issues (like preventing encroachment) is not a very ideal thing.

I think the state govt would have to lower the prices of land at New Town and then think of alloting some of it to the IT companies. I do not see any other option as of now.

I think the state govt would have to lower the prices of land at New Town and then think of alloting some of it to the IT companies. I do not see any other option as of now.

I agree. The asking land price in New Town is pretty high and what they are delivering in return is not worth the price (the WBHIDCO has so many excuses coming from its behind for non deliverance of proper infrastructure to newly moved in residents). It was a mistake to allot thousands of individual plots to people. There is no need for a bungalow township like Salt Lake. Land is scarce - so highrise co-operative living should have been the entry level.

Also who are the people who have been allotted land in the CBD areas? A stock taking has to be taken and if needed, reallocation to job creating companies is the need of the hour. Or there will be empty plots or empty office buildings.

IT companies also need to come down from their real estate demand of 100s of acres of land at subsidized rates. They should start building highrise modern office buildings in metro areas for their needs. This will add to the city skyline rather than those dwarfish replicas of spaceships and saucers that they are building nowadays.

I agree. The asking land price in New Town is pretty high and what they are delivering in return is not worth the price (the WBHIDCO has so many excuses coming from its behind for non deliverance of proper infrastructure to newly moved in residents). It was a mistake to allot thousands of individual plots to people. There is no need for a bungalow township like Salt Lake. Land is scarce - so highrise co-operative living should have been the entry level.

Also who are the people who have been allotted land in the CBD areas? A stock taking has to be taken and if needed, reallocation to job creating companies is the need of the hour. Or there will be empty plots or empty office buildings.

IT companies also need to come down from their real estate demand of 100s of acres of land at subsidized rates. They should start building highrise modern office buildings in metro areas for their needs. This will add to the city skyline rather than those dwarfish replicas of spaceships and saucers that they are building nowadays.

CBD areas ? you mean in New Town? Have they demarcated those areas? All the three action areas are a mix of residential and commercial. The only CBD (where hopefully we will see only high-rises) we know as of now is the one to develop across the road opposite the lake.

However the region comprising DLF IT park II, Ecospace, Infospace, Tata medical, Ohio heart instititute would be the 1st commercial zone to complete in the next couple of years.

Farmers protest - photo from TOI epaper

http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/639/farmersprotestbk6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

^^:ohno: little do they know that all of them are doomed either way whether they give the land or not if Mamta sniffs and puffs and pretends to come to their rescue. And she has a strong nose by virtue of her ability to smell trouble from miles away.

Should say these guys look smart

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/4276/getimagebf7.jpg

^ ^ Arent they missing their see through shield?

it was news a while ago, when WB CM ordered those state-of-the-arts riot gear for Kolkata cops after the Nandigram fiasco. Great to see the gears being utilized.

They look very smart...indeed. I wish I had the link to the news story which had the exacts on those gears...which are built with special light weight but strong metal.

CBD areas ? you mean in New Town? Have they demarcated those areas? All the three action areas are a mix of residential and commercial. The only CBD (where hopefully we will see only high-rises) we know as of now is the one to develop across the road opposite the lake.

However the region comprising DLF IT park II, Ecospace, Infospace, Tata medical, Ohio heart instititute would be the 1st commercial zone to complete in the next couple of years.

This map seems to point out the main CBD. There will be sub CBDs like the AA1 Sub CBD.

http://img378.imageshack.us/img378/5682/malanchalocation1bl6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Kolkata will soon have the country's first multi-storey high court, located very close to the existing high court at Khudiram Bose Street, formerly known as Auckland Place. The Calcutta High Court is the oldest in India, and was established on July 1, 1862, designed by noted architect Walter Granville.

Considering the enormous space constraint in the existing high court building, it is decided to develop a new high court building on 3,500 sq. m land, lying unused with the authority. Initially, Kolkata Municipal Corporation raised objections to the proposed 10-storey building. But it finally put its stamp of approval with a basement floor and a sanction fee of Rs 2 crore.

The new building is coming up on the land once used by the Calcutta Tramways. The upcoming tower has been designed by chief government architect Manisha Rakshit. No other state capital has a multi-storey high court. The centrally AC building will cost the state government over Rs 7 crore.

The new court will also be environment-friendly with solar lighting and glass. There will be nine elevators of which two will be of tube-type. Construction is expected to be complete by 2009.

Source: http://www.projectsmonitor.com/detailnews.asp?newsid=17223&secid=80

Kolkata will soon have the country's first multi-storey high court, located very close to the existing high court at Khudiram Bose Street, formerly known as Auckland Place. No other state capital has a multi-storey high court. Source: http://www.projectsmonitor.com/detailnews.asp?newsid=17223&secid=80

Even a three storey building is multistorey!

Assuming that the reporter meant "several storeys", the Himachal Pradesh highcourt in Shimla and the Kerala High Court in Cochin have several floors. Of course Cochin is not a state capital but Shimla is.

Himachal HC, Shimla
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pallavmoitra/1284538578/sizes/o/

Kerala HC , Cochin
http://www.flickr.com/photos/butterstones/1888410781/

Looks like City Centre II is progressing fast

photo copyright Sakthivel

http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/7032/kolkataaerialaskthivelno2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

^^
Good find, but I wish it were clearer. DAMN!
Any idea which hotel group will open in CC2?

^^
Good find, but I wish it were clearer. DAMN!
Any idea which hotel group will open in CC2?

There are some more pics of it in one of the threads. No clue what hotel group. They are proposing to open several new hotels in the state by 2009-2010. They dropped Radisson from their Ffort hotel.

Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) today said that draught conditions of the Haldia dock system was okay, while the depth was a major cause for concern.

KoPT Chairman Anup Chanda told PTI, "The draught is okay at Haldia, but the depth of the navigation channel is a cause for concern." Chanda said while draught is the navigability of a channel, depth is the extent of the water level from the bed to the surface. The draught at Haldia had gone down by 0.2 meters over the last year from 7.6 meters to 7.4 meters, he said.

Owing to poor depth conditions, some shipping lines are unloading a portion of their cargo at neighbouring Paradeep Port.

Asked about the dredging activity at Haldia to improve the depth conditions, Chanda said while three dredgers were already operating there, four more would be pressed into service over the next few days. One dredger each would come from Paradeep, Sethu Samudram project and Vizag, in addition to a cutting section dredger. Chanda said that the draught is always intimated in advance so that shipping companies are able to do the correct amount of loading.

He said there there had been no draught cuts at the Haldia channel so far, irrespective of water level variations.

Asked whether large vessels are able to discharge their full cargo at Haldia, Chanda said " maybe they are discharging a portion of their cargo at some other ports and the balance at Haldia." Meanwhile, Haldia Dock Officers' Forum today claimed that the a Tata Steel vessel named, 'Blue Diamond', carrying limestone from Thailand had to discharge 30,000 tonne at Paradeep under compelling circumstances.

The balance 19,000 tonne was unloaded at Haldia.

Asked about this development, Chanda said he was not aware of it.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=338130

Falling draft was forcing ships to off load cargo at other ports before entering the Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) of Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT), a group of port officers alleged here today.

R K Burman, secretary of the Haldia Dock Officers' Forum, alleged that in the face of falling draft at the Haldia channel, now at 6.9 metre (m) today, a Tata Steel vessel had to enter the port with only 39 per cent of its parcel size, off-loading the rest at Paradeep.

The cargo would now have to be transported via rail that at an additional freight cost of Rs300 per ton, he claimed.

The Tata vessel named Blue Diamond, carrying 49,000 tons of limestone from Thailand for the Jamshedpur steel plant, entered the port with only 19,000 tons of cargo.

KoPT sources indicated that the vessel had earlier discharged around 30,000 tons at Haldia.

"For transporting 11,000 tons of cargo, the company would have to bear an additional cost of Rs33 lakh. KoPT would also lose around Rs12 lakh on account of reduced cargo handling", alleged R K Burman of the Haldia Dock Officers' Forum. Under normal draft conditions, the ship could have discharged more than 50 per cent of its cargo at Haldia and the remaining at Paradeep port.

On account of the reduced navigable depth in the channel, it could carry only 39 per cent of cargo to Haldia today.

A Tata Steel spokesperson indicated that the company had been part-loading its cargo between Haldia and Paradeep on account of fluctuating draft in the channel for the last eight to ten years.

Sources at the Haldia Dock Complex told Business Standard that while the port trust did not lose revenue if the same amount of cargo reached the port in greater number of vessels, reduced cargo handling could impact revenues.

"Coking coal traffic for Tata Steel and Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has actually risen during the year", the source added. "The draft in the channel averaging around 7.5m during this month forced companies like Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to reduce parcel size", Burman alleged but these companies could not be reached for confirmation.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=338129

http://www.qbtpl.net/images/Tallest.jpg

Calcutta and India will get its tallest building at 250 metres when a commercial property comes up on Chowringhee, next to Tata Centre.
The tower, to rise to a height equivalent to 83 storeys, will be the city's first run in the construction Olympics that is dominated by Burj Dubai at 636m.

"We will actually construct 54 floors, but at 250m, it will easily be the tallest commercial structure in the country, its height corresponding to an 83-storey tower," says A.N. Shroff, the leader of the consortium Diamond Group that is developing the building.

To come up on the vacant land that was once the proposed site for a Grand Hyatt, the 54-storey structure will tower over the Chowringhee skyline, housing 10 levels of car parking at the base and a helipad on top.
The tallest building planned in the city before this was the Life Insurance Corporation's 50-storey commercial structure on the Bypass.
Shroff had purchased around five bighas that belonged to the Maharaja of Darbhanga in 1993 from the high court, and the Diamond Group later bought another portion. The company is in the process of acquiring another contiguous chunk to enable access to the property from Middleton Street as well.

While Burj Dubai is the tallest structure in the world in all four of the criteria listed by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the Imperial Towers iThe Chowringhee building will have many firsts, like a 4.2m floor-to-ceiling height, a grand entrance lobby 42ft high, a sky garden on the 29th level, restaurants on the 50th and 51st floors and three levels of viewing galleries above that," says Vinoo Chadha, principal architect for the project.
His city-based Design Cell has designed the tower, which tapers off at the top, and will have a programmed illumination system to project varied façade views at different times during the night, showing just a brilliant blue streak along the spine at 2am.

"All necessary structural precautions are being taken, including the seismic load factor," said Chaddha.

Structural expert Joseph P. Colaco from Ottawa is doing the structural design along with local structural engineer Sanjeev Parekh. Construction, outsourced from a Singapore firm, is expected to take 24 to 30 months from the date of sanction.

With the land cost at Rs 432 crore, construction is estimated to cross Rs 200 crore. "We want this building to be the calling card of contemporary Calcutta, and will bring in services to match the grandeur of the structure, like the rooftop helipad," said Shroff.

The tower will yield 35-36 floors of office space, with a food court and convention centre spanning three levels.

Unknown - this is under construction near City Center, Salt Lake

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/1913/p8240021mz5.jpg

http://www.pioneerkhaitan.com/commercial_retail.asp

This is Andromeda as per the above website

Again a joke from Transport Minister.. :nuts:

Go green or perish, Subhas tells auto owners

Kolkata: State transport minister Subhas Chakraborty has decided to clear the air on the city’s worst air polluters — the 80,000-odd autorickshaws plying in the city and on outskirts. All of these will have to switch over to LPG by December 31 this year, Chakraborty said on Thursday. The violators have been given enough opportunities for years, “but not any more”, he asserted.
Illegal vehicles will be seized and destroyed. The government has already started a drive, beginning with the seizure and dismantling of 3,000 illegal autos.
“It is embarrassing that thousands of autos apart from the 42,000 registered in Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24-Parganas, are running illegally. Many of them have been brought into the state illegally from Delhi and Ahmedabad through Bihar and Asansol. We’ve already destroyed 3,000 unregistered autorickshaws,” the minister said at Writers’ Buildings.
Chakraborty said that repeated appeals had been made over the past five years to illegal auto-owners to surrender their vehicles. Had they done so, they would have got registration according to availability. “But they neither availed of the opportunities nor responded. It is not possible to allow people continue with illegal activities and also evade taxes,” the minister said, when asked what would happen to those who lose their source of livelihood. Chakraborty has all along been sympathetic about jobless youths, who have no source of income.
The minister added that he was ready to face the consequences — law and order problems or even the wrath of unions. “We have heard what the unions have said for five years,” he asserted.
Not just this, those running unregistered autos have been given a useful scheme to purchase new vehicles after surrendering the old ones. While the cost of an auto is Rs 1.26 lakh, a bank loan of Rs 95,000 is available. The state government is giving Rs 10,000 and Rs 6,000 is on offer from a private company on surrendering the old vehicle. “The owners will have to provide the rest of, which is very little. They have still refused to respond. This cannot be accepted any further,” Chakraborty said.

Again a joke from Transport Minister.. :nuts:

Interesting to note that 3000 autos have already been destroyed.

Interesting to note that 3000 autos have already been destroyed.

Is it? Thats great if so! I am little concern about LPG supply.

Not sure if posted before. Found in Hiland Group Website (http://hilandcal.com/woods_siteprogress.htm)

Hiland Woods U/C, New Town

Woods from outside
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/p1_over.jpg

Woods from outside
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/p3_over.jpg

Maple
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/p4_over.jpg

Maple & Birch G+14 each
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/p6_over.jpg

Slab casting- Hazel
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/p7_over.jpg

Club-under construction
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/p9_over.jpg

Hazel
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/p16_over.jpg

Thanks for the update Saraf!

:cheers:

Diamond City West, Behala

http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/5852/diamondsouthpk2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Diamond City South

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/5033/diamondsouth2wd6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Merlin Residency Phase II

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/5272/merlinresidency2zu9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Merlin River View

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/297/merliruverview1pg9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Saraf, Sun - thanks for all the real estate updates.:cheers:

The proportion of landscaping of Hiland woods looks a little in comparison to the size of the towers. Kinda cramped.

Hope Diamond city south got the approval of G+22 ( as against G+16).

Active Acres

gj94vpMorHo

Hopefullly, Mamata, Medha, Maoists, Marxists, Mukherjees, Bhajapas and Forward (actually Backward) Blocers shouldn't read this article


Retail space in Bengal expands with increase in average spend

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/retail-space-in-bengal-expands-with-increase-in-average-spend/378576/2

As average spend at the modern retail stores in West Bengal is growing at more than 30% per year, convenience stores chains have already set up 87 stores in the state, creating more than 3 lakh sq ft of retail space.

Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail has zeroed in on the first week of November to start operations for its ‘Delight’ stores. According to sources, ‘Delight’ is opening its first store in Rajarhat.

While Aditya Birla’s retail venture, More, is leading the pack with 33 stores, RPG Group’s Spencer’s has the largest retail area in the state. According to Samar Singh Sheikhawat, vice president (retail) of Spencer’s Retail Ltd, the average bill size has increased to Rs 650 at present from Rs 500 a year before.

Of the 34 ‘more’ stores in the state, 32 are located in and around Kolkata. It has two stores, each at Hutton Road and Sahara Complex, in Asansol. With each ‘More’ store spread over an average area of 2,500 sq ft, it has created 82,500 sq ft of retail space.

RPG Group’s Spencer’s has 19 stores in the state, including three hypermarts. “We have a total area of 1.5 lakh sq ft in West Bengal, including 1.25 lakh sq ft in Kolkata,” Sheikhawat said

Spencer’s plans to increase the total area by 75,000 sq ft in West Bengal, including 55,000 sq ft in Kolkata, during 2008-09.

Wadhawan Group’s Spinach has set up seven stores in and around Kolkata, including one at Narendrapur. It has created an estimated 14,000 sq ft of retail space in the state.

Reliance Retail has set up five ‘Fresh’ stores in Kolkata and plans to open ‘Delight’ stores adjacent to the Fresh ones.

Kishore Biyani’s Pantaloons and Bigbazar and Khadim’s Egaro have malls and large format stores in the state, catering to the convenience store needs. Pantaloons and Bigbazar have 19 stores in the state, including one each in Kharagpur, Durgapur, Barddhaman and Siliguri. Egaro has opened three stores in Kolkata and Howrah.

According to a study conveyed by the Confederation of Indian Industry, while 58% people spend up to Rs 1,000 per month for apparel and accessories, 74% spend up to Rs 1,000 per month for groceries.

Almost 92% people spend up to Rs 1,000 per month for electronics and consumer durables and 94% spend the similar amount for home furnishings.

“We can say that 60% of our revenue comes from food, including fruit and vegetables, fish and meat, grocery and FMCG food. Grocery alone would be close to 20 % of the revenue,” said Sheikhawat.

Dispute over flyover ramp plan

KMDA, HRBC & Kolkata Police At Loggerheads; Govt Orders Study On Vehicle Routes

Swati Sengupta

Kolkata: A proposed exit ramp off AJC Bose Road flyover has got Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners and Kolkata Police at loggerheads with each other.
KMDA and HRBC, which are executing the project with funds from Jawarharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), want the ramp merged at Auckland Place, where AJC Bose Road and Circus Avenue meet.
Kolkata Police authorities, however, say merger there would cause severe traffic congestion. So, city police have asked HRBC and KMDA to review three options or points where the ramp could merge — Shakespeare Sarani, Mullickbazar crossing near Elliot Road and Auckland Place — and conduct an “origin-destination study” for the project.
The study would reveal the number of commuters taking the flyover, their destination and who would benefit from the ramp. The huge differences of opinion has led the state government to decide that the study should indeed be conducted to reach a conclusion. The fresh study would be conducted by Consultant Engineers Services (CES) and Kolkata Police to determine the area’s vehicular density so that the plan can be altered accordingly. The exercise will take a month to complete, a senior official said.
“We have asked for a review of the three options and the study will make it clear which of the three is justified,” K Harirajan, additional commissioner of police (IV) of Kolkata Police, said on Tuesday.
The matter was discussed at a high-level meeting at Writers’ Buildings between urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya and senior officials of KMDA, HRBC and the city police. The proposed ramp of the AJC Bose Road flyover has been in the pipeline for some time now.
The suggestion from Kolkata Police at the last minute has upset the two bodies which were all set to implement the project. The project has already been cleared by the Centre and most of the other preparations for it had also been completed. The plan to construct an exit ramp to the AJC Bose Road flyover was long planned. Now, the plan has even been cleared by the Centre for the 420 metre flyover, which would require Rs 28 crore.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/Pc0051400.jpg

Times of India

Upkeep onus on CMC (http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081029/jsp/calcutta/story_10033204.jsp)


http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/5295/41084636ke2.jpg
The Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) has been taking over properties owned and run by various government agencies following the Centre’s “one-city-one-city-government” policy.

The civic body, from now on, will be responsible for maintaining these properties, which include flyovers, markets, roads, booster and drainage pumping stations, parks, street lights and sanitation infrastructure in slums. The annual cost will be around Rs 10 crore.

“We are taking over these assets in accordance with the guidelines in the 74th amendment to the Constitution. I am trying to persuade the state government to provide more funds for the upkeep of the assets,” mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya said.

The agencies whose properties are being taken over are the CMDA, HRBC, CIT and the state public works and irrigation departments. Sources said the PWD and the CPT are reluctant to hand over the responsibility of maintaining roads, street lights and a township in Baishnabghata-Patuli and running the conservancy service to the civic authorities. “Talks are on with the port trust and the PWD,” the mayor said.

Municipal commissioner Alapan Bandyopadhyay said the new system would provide “a centralised, hassle-free service” to the citizens. “The agencies have been working for the betterment of the city. But the problem with most of them is that they can create assets but lack the funds or infrastructure for their upkeep.”

TOI e-paper 30.10.2008

KOLKATA: Not even a month has elapsed since Germany’s Metro Cash & Carry received its crucial APMC (Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee) lic
ence from the West Bengal government. But the German wholesaler has already signed up a whopping 65,000 customers, including the city’s premier hotels like ITC Sonar, Hyatt Regency, Kolkata, Taj Bengal.

Significantly, surging customer registrations come in the run-up to Metro Cash & Carry’s Kolkata launch in early December. It is learnt that the German firm has set an internal deadline of December 4 to launch its 1 lakh sq ft wholesale facility. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is slated to inaugurate the complex.

Sources familiar with the developments said star hotels, caterers and restaurants constitute a major customer base for Metro Cash & Carry in any location. The company will also target kirana stores and small traders for selling its merchandise. Metro has already indicated that agriculture items will account for 40% of its merchandise in Kolkata.

It will offer an assortment of 18,000 products under a single roof.

When contacted, the Metro Cash & Carry India spokesperson did not deny or confirm the information. “We have nothing to share at as of now. We will make a formal announcement on the latest updates regarding our Kolkata facility by this week,” the spokesperson told ET.

The company is tipped to crank up its headcount of some 350-odd employees at its maiden city facility on the EM Bypass. Sources hinted that the company may create an additional 150-odd direct and indirect jobs for the outlet once it kicks off operations.

The West Bengal chief minister had played a crucial role in enabling the reissue of the APMC licence which was scrapped by the Forward Bloc-controlled West Bengal State Marketing Board in June 2007.

Apart from the APMC licence, Metro has also received the liquor licence that will allow it to sell wine and beer from its outlet. The company has also applied for a drug licence that will enable it to sell over-the-counter medicines and products.

“Typically, a wholesale store requires around 27-30 licences that span across its product and operational requirements. Metro is currently in the process of receiving them,” sources said.

Interestingly, the Metro Cash & Carry store has worked out a unique formula to cater to customers. The store will cater to three zones which have been split according to the time required to reach the store. The first zone comprises traders who will require 15 minutes to reach the store. The second and third zones comprise traders who can access the store within 25 minutes and 40 minutes ,respectively.

Hope the disruptive opposition party supported by self proclaimed intellectuals do not read this

Encroachers resist water theme park (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/Encroachers_resist_water_theme_park/articleshow/3656540.cms)


Kolkata: The shadow of Singur has fallen on many other projects ever since the Tata pullout. The latest example of that is the proposed Rs 150-crore water theme park near Rashbehari Avenue connector next to Ruby hospital.
Shrachi Group, the developer, can’t take up the project unless squatters — 400 families living in shanties around the waterbody — are removed from the area.
The total area, including land and waterbodies, covers approximately 30 acre. Once the encroachers are removed, a memorandum of understanding is to be signed between Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority — which owns the land and waterbodies — and the consortium.
The Rs 150 crore to be spent on the project will not be a problem as the money would be pumped in jointly by the private companies and KMDA. So all that stands in the way of the project is the resistance put up by the 400 encroacher families. The families have refused to budge from the area and KMDA officials are having a tough time to make them see reason.
This has delayed the projects considerably. Following Singur and Nandigram, the state government, too, is not pushing things too far. “We are not in favour of using force, because we don’t want a flare-up,” a KMDA official said on Thursday.
Things have come to such a pass that urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya approached Samarendra Roy, chairman of Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s borough X, to sort out the muddle.
Bhattacharya met Roy and another local councillor, Amal Majumdar, at Writers’ Buildings earlier this week.
According to Roy, “The state government has planned to rehabilitate them under the Kolkata Environment Improvement Project (KEIP), which involves providing them with alternative places to stay. Such a project is coming up at Nonadanga and these families can be shifted there.”
However, the offer has been made to 200 families, which live alongside the adjoining canal as they can be accommodated under a scheme for rehabilitating encroachers living along canals. But another 200 families living around the water bodies have been asked to leave without any rehabilitation offer.
“These are illegal structures. Why should any offer be made? They have been asked to leave,” the KMDA official said.
“We cannot go from here, because we earn our livelihood from fishing and growing vegetables here. The government cannot remove us for creating an entertainment centre,” said Malati Das and Gobinda Mondal, who live in the area. Some run tea shops and others sell vegetables.
With such stiff opposition, the state government will have a tough time sorting things out soon.

This is some news! Without sounding pessimistic I hope the govt & the developer are aware of the challenges ahead of it

Bids opened for Ring Road (http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081101/jsp/calcutta/story_10045503.jsp)

Financial bids for the 42-km elevated Ring Road project were opened on Friday. This is the final step before the work is allotted to a developer.

The road, which will touch the airport, VIP Road, EM Bypass, Garia, Tollygunge, Diamond Harbour Road, Howrah bridge and Vidyasagar Setu, is scheduled to be built by 2015.

Government sources told Metro that the contract would be awarded in a couple of weeks.

“The transport minister wants to complete the formalities by November 10,” said a source.

The companies shortlisted are Navyug Construction, ITD of Thailand and a consortium of Srei Infrastructure Finance, Simplex Infrastructure and Sadhbav Engineering. The consortium is likely to bag the project, according to the source.

Additional chief secretary Sumantra Chowdhury and joint secretary Ranajit Maity, the government officials in charge of the project, could not be reached for comment.

The transport ministry conceived the project early last year and floated a global tender. The shortlist of three was drawn up after the technical bids were opened on September 2.

The developer will enjoy the right to collect toll on every vehicle passing the stretch for the next 35 years. The government had pegged the daily toll at Rs 50 per vehicle.

The four-lane road, with an exclusive bus lane, will have 11 intersections.

The consortium has estimated the project cost at Rs 6586.05 crore and sought government assistance to the tune of Rs 3,369.05 crore.

The Thai company also proposed to collect toll. Navyug did not specify how it would recover the cost.

Have the farmers stopped protesting the takeover ? Or does TOI have no clue about this

Infy team to visit city for plot recce (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/IT_silver_lining_Infy_team_to_visit_city_for_plot_recce/articleshow/3660820.cms)

KOLKATA: There is still hope for chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s Infosys dreams. The IT major is sending a team to the state next week to conduct a recce of the land offered to them at Rajarhat.

Determined not to let the Tata pullout dampen investors’ interest in the state, the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government has been lobbying hard with the IT major for the past month.

And it has clearly helped. Infosys has now decided to send a team of officials on November 7 to see for themselves that the land offered to them by the state IT department is ready for them to take over.

The impending visit has not only rekindled Bengal’s IT hopes in times of a global meltdown, it has also projected the IT major’s reinstated confidence in Brand Bengal. “The Infosys team offered to come here to check out the land on November 7. The date was suggested by them and we agreed,” said IT secretary Siddharth on Friday, adding that his department had land ready for both Infosys and Wipro.

In April this year, Infosys Technologies and Wipro committed investments of Rs 500 crore each to set up development centres in Kolkata.

Starved of land near the city, the state government finally coaxed a private developer to give up 1,200 acre to set up an IT township near Rajarhat. The IT majors were allotted 90 acre each in this 1,200-acre upcoming township.

Despite the MoUs signed in the chief minister’s presence, Infosys director-HR T V Mohandas Pai announced on September 9 (amid the Singur turmoil) that his company was unsure of its Bengal foray due to the “prevailing unfriendly political and industrial climate.” Pai had said that the Singur row had created fear.

Ever since he expressed his anxiety, the state government has remained in constant touch with Infosys, reassuring them of all support.

The liaison was done at the behest of the chief minister, who has been extremely passionate about getting the Infosys stamp on Brand Bengal. Soon after Pai’s statement, the chief minister said: “I have asked my IT minister to assure Infosys that my government will guarantee that no such problem would surface when they come to Bengal.”

The tenacity seems to have finally paid off. “The IT major has also been told that the land is ready,” said Siddharth, adding, “In fact, we have more land than the amount required for the Infosys and the Wipro projects. They would need 180 acres, and we have much more.” He, thus, allayed apprehensions that the government was unable to get the land for the IT city, thanks to repeated protests from local farmers claiming compensation for the plots, which were bought by Vedic Realty, a private developer.

Have the farmers stopped protesting the takeover ? Or does TOI have no clue about this

Infy team to visit city for plot recce (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/IT_silver_lining_Infy_team_to_visit_city_for_plot_recce/articleshow/3660820.cms)

Very interesting. Lets see what is going to happen. But if they really want to built so, I think 6 lane is more feasible. Any new road/flyover in Kolkata should come with at least 6 lanes.

i think these two are different plots......farmer trouble is happening in jagadishpur on 330 acres ... it is behind 5 residential projects (teen kanya, malancha etc.)
and, infy/wipro plots are on 1200 acres planned IT township opposite to vedic village ... vedic realty is supposed to hand over this land with an agreement that government will build infrastructure of their residential project nearby

Have the farmers stopped protesting the takeover ? Or does TOI have no clue about this

i think these two are different plots......farmer trouble is happening in jagadishpur on 330 acres ... it is behind 5 residential projects (teen kanya, malancha etc.)
and, infy/wipro plots are on 1200 acres planned IT township opposite to vedic village ... vedic realty is supposed to hand over this land with an agreement that government will build infrastructure of their residential project nearby

Yes... u r absolutely right... these r two separate parcels of land..... trouble has brewed up in Jagadishpur (332 Acres) not the one near Vedic Village (1200 Acres)......

War of luxury wheels
- After BMW, Audi readies for grand entry

ANASUYA BASU
Monday , October 13 , 2008

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081013/images/13audi.jpg
John Abraham poses with an Audi A4 after its Indian launch in Mumbai in July this year. (AFP)

Calcutta is set to witness a German slugfest in the ultra-luxury car segment.

Audi, the premium Volkswagen product that many Indians would probably identify as the car cricketer Ravi Shastri won in Australia in 1985, will get its first showroom in the city in January. Volkswagen plans to open a separate showroom for its VW models and is in the process of selecting a dealer.

The Audi showroom at Tagore Park, on the EM Bypass, will have a floor spread of 6,000 sq ft, according to a spokesperson for the dealer, Imperial Auto.

The other German companies in the fray are Mercedes and BMW.

Audi’s entire range, including the A4, A6 and A8 sedans, the Q7 SUV and the sports car TT Coupe, will be available at the EM Bypass address.

“Audi is very proud to have arrived in Calcutta, the gateway to the east,” managing director Benoit Tiers said.

The Calcutta showroom is one of 12 new Audi dealerships across the country but only the “first footprint in eastern India”.

The response to Audi’s foray into India, Tiers said, had been overwhelming. “Our sales grew over 190 per cent in the first eight months. We are strengthening our dealership network and the one in Calcutta will give customers the opportunity to experience the world of Audi and our premium services.”

But is the Calcutta market large enough for several ultra-luxury car manufacturers? Tiers said: “We acknowledge the potential of the eastern India market. We received a lot of enquiries specifically from Calcutta, which is why we decided to come here at the earliest opportunity.”

Apart from the Tagore Park showroom, Audi will set up a workshop at Rakhaldas Auddy Road with five bays.

Shruti Bagaria, the principal dealer of Imperial Auto, said customer satisfaction would be the priority. “Our showroom will be a world-class one. It will adhere to global Audi standards in terms of premium service.”

The interiors of the showroom are being done up with materials from different countries — furniture from Germany, lights from Japan, flooring from Austria and tiles from Italy.

“We are spending Rs 4-5 crore just to get the look of an international Audi showroom, which is more than the cost of the land,” Bagaria said.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081013/jsp/calcutta/story_9954264.jsp

30 months to makeover
- EXCLUSIVE: First look at the Rs 2100-crore airport modernisation programme

SANJAY MANDAL
Wednesday , October 29 , 2008

Six more parking bays
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081029/images/29Airport16.jpg

Secondary runway add-on
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081029/images/29Airport14.jpg
(From top) New parking bays being constructed to facilitate night parking of more aircraft; work is on for extension of the secondary runway by 400 metre towards the northern side. Pictures by Aranya Sen

The Rs 2,100 crore modernisation project of Calcutta airport is finally underway. Metro gets to watch the first flush of work in progress and takes a closer look at the bigger picture.

WHAT: The first of the three-phase modernisation programme involves a 1,80,000 square metre state-of-the art integrated terminal building, extension of secondary runway, six parking bays and a rapid taxiway to host Airbus 380 (the largest aircraft in the world). Plus, a new air traffic control tower.

WHY: Calcutta airport now handles 7 million passengers annually. By 2012, it is likely to handle nearly 20 million passengers annually. So there is an urgent need for more check-in-counters, high-speed X-ray system and conveyor belts in the terminal building; more runway, parking and taxiing room for aircraft; also, more space for car park.

WHO: The Thai-Indian consortium ITD-ITD CEM was awarded the letter of intent by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) on October 6.

A 15-member expert team from Thailand is now camping in town. This is the same team that was instrumental in the making of Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok.

RJM of Hong Kong and Airport De Paris, with Indian partners Sikka Associates, have designed the new terminal building.

The Rs 95-crore project of secondary runway extension and construction of new parking bays and taxiway is being done by Bangalore-based Vishal Infrastructure Ltd.

WHEN: The work on the runway, parking bays and a rapi
d taxiway is already underway and will be completed within a year. Work on the terminal building is scheduled to start from the first week of November, said S.P.S. Bakshi, the executive director of the modernisation project of Calcutta airport.

“The work will be completed within 30 months,” said Werapol Asapa, the contract manager of ITD.

The timeframe for the new ATC tower has not yet being finalised.

HOW: The work for secondary runway extension — 400 metre on the northern side — and construction of new parking bays and a
rapid taxiway has picked up pace.

For the integrated terminal building project, the piling work will be taken up first. “The land is marshy and so huge piling work is needed,” said an ITD official.

Once the piling work is complete, the construction of the building will begin. First, the underground car parking facility will be constructed for 1,500 to 1,700 cars.

“We are planning to complete the structure of the two-and-a-half storied building before the onset of monsoon in June 2009. Most of the structure will be made of steel,” said Bakshi.

After the building structure is complete, the work on the interiors will start.

“The columns will be built at a separation of 20 to 25 feet to maintain flexibility. This would allow more check-in counters to be extended and conveyor belts installed inside the terminal building without a problem,” Bakshi explained.

Walkalators (walking escalators) , conveyor belts with in-built X-ray machines, elevators, baggage handling area and other modern facilities would be created in phases.

(What problems do you face at Calcutta airport today? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com)

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081029/jsp/calcutta/story_10031325.jsp

Subhas plans international airport in Howrah

Statesman News Service

KOLKATA, Oct. 30: After declaring that an automobile manufacturer will set up shops in Singur after Tata Motors shifted its Nano project out of the state, state transport minister, Mr Subhas Chakraborty is at it again.

After the chief minister had shelved his ambitious plan to set up a green-field airport near Kolkata last year and instead settled for a Rs 2,000 crore revamp of the NSC Bose International airport, Mr Subhas Chakraborty today announced that the state government is planning to set up an international airport in Howrah.

“There has been a considerable increase of passengers at the NSC Bose International airport and so it was necessary to develop another airport and Howrah is the appropriate place for this purpose,” the state transport minister said while laying the foundation stone for a bus terminus at Ramrajatala in Howrah today.

He said that a consultancy agency has been deputed by the state government for doing a survey in this regard and once they give their report, the whole project will be finalised. Mr Chakraborty said: “We have also directed all the MPs and the MLAs of the district to look for land and once they give a report, we will finalise it. There is land belonging to the Eastern Railway, beside the Kona Expressway, but there is some dispute with the land and so we are looking for a different plot.”

When asked why Howrah has been chosen, the minister said: “Howrah is the twin city of Kolkata and an airport in this town is a necessity. Howrah’s proximity to Kolkata will help in developing this airport.”

It may be recalled that after Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s ambitious plan for a green-field airport was shelved, the civil aviation ministry approved the modernisation plan for the NSC Bose International airport. The modernisation work includes extension of the second runway, construction of rapid exit taxiways and aprons, upgradation of air traffic management and communication, navigation and surveillance systems and a brand new integrated terminal building to cater to 20 million passengers. The new Integrated Passenger Terminal is scheduled to be completed by 2011. The civil aviation ministry had in August last year approved the detailed project report furnished by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), which has approved consultants for the project that include Aeroport du Paris Internationale and RMJM of Hong Kong.

For maintenance dredging.

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Dredge XVII is required for post-monsoon dredging in at least four major ports.
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Kolkata, Oct 31

Dredging Corporation of India (DCI), at the instance of the Ministry of Shipping, has decided to transfer its dredger, Dredge XVI currently deployed at Sethu Samudram project, to the Hooghly River for undertaking maintenance dredging in the river near the Haldia dock.

Giving this information to Business Line, Dr A.K. Chanda, Chairman, Kolkata Port Trust, (KoPT) said Dredge XVI would most probably arrive at Haldia by November 2 and start operation immediately, thereafter.

The dredging in the Hooghly near Haldia dock would receive a big boost with the deployment of this dredger, Dr Chanda observed. Meanwhile, the board of trustees of KoPT, at its meeting held at Haldia had passed a resolution urging the Shipping Ministry to initiate move also to make available the DCI dredger, Dredge XVII, for dredging in the Hooghly.

Post-monsoon dredging

But the problem is that Dredge XVII is required for post-monsoon dredging in at least four major ports — New Mangalore, Mormugao,Visakhapatnam and Paradip.

Earlier plan

The KoPT Chairman conceded that the earlier plan to have the Russian dredger, Gorznov, transferred from Sethu Samudram to Hooghly river did not make much headway for various reasons. Right now there are as many as five dredgers deployed in the Hooghly and these are Dredge V, Dredge VI, Dredge IX which has been transferred from Paradip port, Dredge XII and Dredge XV.

With the arrival of Dredge XVI, the number will rise to six.

Another dredger, Dredge XIV, currently under repair, is expected to join the fleet in the Hooghly towards the end November.

Inquiries reveal that the right now the performance of the three dredgers, namely, Dredge VI, Dredge XII and Dredge XV, has been less than satisfactory due to various reasons.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/bline/2008/11/01/stories/2008110150070700.htm

Source: TOI Epaper

Swank look for industrial estates to attract more investors
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/6113/getimagezw1.jpg
Kolkata: Unable to get fresh land in and around the city, the government is now concentrating on the existing industrial estates, consisting of some of the prime plots. It has decided to upgrade industrial estates in and around Kolkata.
The decision comes in the wake of the changed industrial scenario. At a time when the government, having burnt its fingers in mega industrial projects, has shifted its focus squarely to small and medium-sized projects that would necessarily require small plots of land. Hence the thrust on industrial estates.
Manoj Panth, managing director of West Bengal Small Industry Development Corporation (WBSIDC), the nodal department of the state government for the development of small scale industries, said: “We’ll begin with Kasba Industrial Estate (KIE), where we have entered into a joint venture with the Siddha group.”
And, Bengal Siddha, the joint venture company, has started constructing Siddha Fifth Avenue there. It is a commercial real-estate project, which will be extended to undertake the overall development of the estate.
“We shall organise the industrial estate, which falls under a prime land bank of the city and deliver this as a pilot project, which will surely change the face of the entire area,” said Sanjay Jain, joint managing director of Siddha.
Thus, KIE will soon show off its first intelligent building (wi-fi enabled with electronic security system of international standard, standby power back-up and high speed elevators).
After Kasba, WBSIDC will take up similar initiatives for the eight other industrial estates, including Kasba phase-II and Kasba phase-III, Behala, Budge Budge, Baltikuri (Howrah), Kidderpore, Santoshpur (new integrated garment complex) and Manicktala. “It will be an evolving process and all the estates will be upgraded in the same way,” said Panth.
The modernisation will include developing the internal drainage system, upgrading streetlights, fire safety measures and beautification. Internal roads will also be rebuilt. Panth said local municipalities will be roped in for the infrastructure rehaul and associations of entrepreneurs already operating at the industrial estates will look after beautification and maintenance.
“We have asked the individual entrepreneurs to submit their building plans so that they can be improved upon,” said the MD. Many export-oriented units, leather goods manufacturers are operating out of the nine industrial estates. “We want the industrial estates to look spick and span that would draw more and more investors,” said Panth.

Subhas plans international airport in Howrah

Statesman News Service

This will not happen anytime soon and may not happen at all. Subhas should stop flying and concentrate on more down to earth transportation issues.

Swank look for industrial estates to attract more investors Source: TOI Epaper

Google earth view of Kasba Industrial Estate

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/3060/kasbaindustrialkolkataiy3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

This will not happen anytime soon and may not happen at all. Subhas should stop flying and concentrate on more down to earth transportation issues.

^^I agree. All this is plain & cheap publicity. If he plays a role in phasing out the old vehicles that would be a commendable achievement.

Google earth view of Kasba Industrial Estate

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/3060/kasbaindustrialkolkataiy3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

^^Looks quite cramped. Are those residential quarters towards the bottom right of the image?

Are those residential quarters towards the bottom right of the image?

Yes.

Five star properties, Peerless Inn Kolkata and Peerless Inn Durgapur are both under renovation, while the latter was recently rebranded. Owned by Kolkata-based Peerless group and managed by the Sarovar Group of Hotels, renovations on the Kolkata property are almost complete, while the same process will begin at the Durgapur property in two to three months. The company also has big plans to set up five additional business hotels in the Eastern region (including the North East).

On adopting all these plans at one time, Pankaj Gupta, Rooms Divisions Manager, Peerless Inn Kolkata, explains to Hospitalitybiz, “All these are a result of the sudden slew of business in this region. While the rest of India felt the growth pulse in business much earlier, this region has felt it only recently due to the sudden industrial congestion here. Along with the launch of hotels in Asansol, Siliguri, Raipur, Dibrugarh and Rajarhat in Kolkata, we plan to revamp our oldest properties in Kolkata and Durgapur.” Peerless Inn Kolkata has already undergone a huge renovation programme, after which its lobby, restaurants, coffee shops and all banquet halls (including board rooms) have a completely new look.

Enjoying 85 per cent occupancy throughout the year, the Peerless Inn Kolkata will add 70 rooms to take inventory strength to 202 rooms. “We started the renovations almost two years ago and we are still left with a few more things. Addition of rooms will start from December 2008 and the existing rooms’ renovation will take place simultaneously,” adds Gupta. Targeting suave business travellers, the rooms will have four piece bathrooms with see through glasses and various modern features and gadgets. The hotels will be equipped with one more swimming pool in another year.

The property has also closed down a few outlets, in order to deliver bigger and more equipped outlets based on the same ideas. “For example, we closed down the 40 person Nishidin, which was a 24 hour coffee shop, to change it into a bigger 24 hour coffee-shop named Oceanic, with many cuisines and features. It has also doubled its accommodation capacity. We have also revamped Bengali cuisine restaurant, Aaheli, in terms of menu, features and cover,” informs Gupta.

On the need for rebranding, Gupta comments, “As soon as we decided to give our 45 year old Durgapur property a new look, we planned the renovation as per any posh business hotel standard as we wanted to position it as one of the strongest Sarovar Group properties. We did not think similarly for the Kolkata property because it is more popularly known under the Peerless group brand tag.” Earlier known as Peerless Inn, Durgapur, the property is now officially known as Peerless Sarovar Portico. It will attempt to cash in on Bengal’s biggest festive season through this new brand image. “With the newly adopted brand image, we have already redone the restaurants, coffee-shop and the lobby, while room renovation will start in another month,” concluded Gupta.

Source: http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/detailNews.aspx?aid=2481&sid=1

Around ten dredgers can be expected to be working on the Haldia channel by the end of December this year.

With three dredgers working on the channel now Haldia port will get one dredger from Vizag soon. It received one from Paradeep on October 23.

Two more dredgers could be expected including one from the Sethusamundram Shipping Canal Project(SSCP) within a month's time. "One of the more efficient dredgers, dredger number 12 has now gone for reapir at the dry-docks will join in December. Our officers are tracking the developements closely. This apart, plans are on for chartering two dredgers through Transchart, the shipping ministry outfit", said A K Chanda, chairman, Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT). A KoPT team had visited the coastal city of Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu this week for spot inspection of a dredger that could be chartered.

"More such inspections are lined up based on the responses received to the expressions of interest floated by Transchart.", Chanda said while declining to give out further details.

Highlighting the reasons for a loss of depth in the channel, the chairman explained that extension of the tail of the Nayachara island was affecting the depth at Auckland bar. The Auckland bar earlier required only 10 per cent of dredging while the bulk of the dredging activity was centered around Jellingham bar as it used to be the governing bar deciding the ruling depth of the entire channel. Under current circumstances, Auckland was drawing more than 50 per cent of the dredging activity. To counter the falling depth and in a strive to maintain a healthy draft in the channel, KoPT had reduced the under-keel clearance by 0.1 meter earlier and has further brought it down by 0.2 meter on October 4.

The under keel clearance or the clearance from the ships keel to the bottom of the shipping channel is now at 0.9 meters.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=339014

The plan of Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) to set up a Rs1235 crore container terminal project at Diamond Harbour dock system on the river Hooghly, 40 kilometer from the city, is delayed as it still does not have possession of the land.

KoPT had planned to float request for qualification (RFQ) for the project on July 1, informed A K Chanda, chairman, KoPT.

"However,it could not be done as the necessary clearances from the concerned authorities were not in hand", Chanda added.

The container terminal project requires around 125 acres of land and around 30 per cent of this requirement would come from the defence authorities.

This apart, around 23 hectares would come from the West Bengal government, 16 hectares from private owners and the remaining from the director general of lighthouse and lightships.

"The proposal is lying with the final authority in the defence ministry, and a nod could be expected soon", Chanda said but did not put a timeline. "The state government has agreed in-principle to give land for the project and would ask the district authotities to initiate the process", he added. The project would be built on a build-operate-transfer basis by a private developer and the projected time of completion from commencement is around 18 months.

"The river has an average draft of 9m at Diamond Harbour and did not require any dredging in the last 15 years", Chanda said.

While the original plan was to build the terminal in two-phases that would handle both dry bulk cargo as well as containers, KoPT later decided to scrap the dry bulk cargo operations and build the terminal in a single phase. Total capacity for container handling would be 1.6 million containers and was expected to hit 1.1 million units in the first year. KoPT handled 58 million tons (mnt) of cargo last fiscal, marginally up from the previous year's 57.3mnt.

Container traffic, however, increased significantly from 4,25,405 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) in 2007-08 from 3,49,069 TEUs in 2006-07, up 22 per cent.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=339016

November launch for slew of projects (http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081103/jsp/calcutta/story_10039244.jsp)


http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/3654/12461986xa3.jpg
The Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) will start work on projects worth over Rs 1,000 crore, including Vivekananda Road and Dum Dum flyovers and water treatment plants in Howrah and Garden Reach, this month.

If work is not completed within a year and a half, the agency will bear the cost for the delay.

Urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya announced the decision to start the projects in a recent meeting. He also set the deadline.

Water treatment and solid waste management projects, worth about Rs 700 crore, comprise the largest chunk of work. Construction of a water treatment plant in Padmapukur, Howrah, the third phase of Garden Reach water treatment plant and solid waste management projects in Serampore, Mahestala and Budge Budge are slated to start in November.

The CMDA will also build new flyovers on Vivekananda Road and at Dum Dum. The Bagha Jatin flyover will be widened to six lanes. An underpass will also be built.

In addition, the government agency will build nearly 4,000 flats for low-income groups at Nonadanga, Rajarhat, Baishnabghata, Barrackpore and Chetla.

“The ground work has started. If everything goes smoothly, the chief minister will lay the foundation of the Bagha Jatin flyover extension on November 23,” said Debdas Bhattacharya, the director general of the CMDA.

The funds for the projects will come from the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, wings of the state government and the civic bodies concerned

I think this is wipro junction flyover construction work.

Photo cc irishsavage71 @flickr

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/2999425477_8285b88790_o.jpg

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/2999426093_09b7f8c8bc_o.jpg

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/3000259786_86402d1bf2_o.jpg

^^ yup and work is progressing fast. The pillars have come up in the last couple of months.

^^ yup and work is progressing fast. The pillars have come up in the last couple of months.

They are doing well it seems. We see a good progress after the last update you gave.

ArcelorMittal to set up R&D centre in Kolkata (http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1991455/)

Even as the failure of the Nano project put a question mark on West Bengal's investor-friendly climate, world's largest steel producer ArcelorMittal has approached the West Bengal government for land at Rajarhat near the Kolkata for setting up its research and development centre.
"ArcelorMittal is keen to set up a central office in Rajarhat, for which it has sought land from the state government," said Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. He also said that other companies such as Airtel and ICICI Bank have also approached the government for land in the same area.

Mittal is in the process of setting up greenfield plants in Orissa and Jharkhand and the R&D centre would be a global hub for design and engineering.

"The centre would be a global hub for design and engineering and shared services and in the final stage it will have 300 engineers working in it," said Vijay Bhatnagar, CEO, ArcelorMittal India. It will take up consultancy jobs and cater to needs of ArcelorMittal plants in 27 countries around the world.

A host of industries coming up in the area on the outskirts of Kolkata has led to land prices moving upwards to an asking rate of Rs 7 crore per acre.

ArcelorMittal to set up R&D centre in Kolkata (http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1991455/)

7 Cr per acre??? :bash:

7 Cr per acre??? :bash:

I guess the richest Indian in the world will have no problems in shelling out a few 100 crores for his R&D hub. But I do agree that the price is too high in today's economic scenario.

They are doing well it seems. We see a good progress after the last update you gave.


Yes and for the 1st time ( as far as I know) temporary brick housing has been built along the banks of the canal for housing the workers involved in the construction of the flyover. The advantage is that it eliminates the transportation costs of labor. Tantia is doing a good job overall.

Wonder whats the status of the construction with the much delayed VIP-EM bypass flyover. More than 2 months back I recall traffic being stopped ( and then started after chaos prevailed) on the slip road linking the two roads owing to the construction of pillars.

The West Bengal government plans to set up a world-class airport in Howrah city to reduce the passenger rush at Netaji Subash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata, state Transport Minister Subash Chakraborty told Projectmonitor over phone.

The minister stated that the state government had deputed a consultancy agency to undertake a survey and finalise the report for the airport project.

Sufficient land for the project is available close to Kona Expressway, which belongs to Eastern Railway, but the state government is finding it difficult to negotiate and is hence on the lookout for some other alternative, the transport minister added. The airport project will be given final shape only after the availability of adequate land is confirmed.

Source: http://www.projectsmonitor.com/detailnews.asp?newsid=17315&secid=80

Source: TOI Epaper (06.11.2008)

Will Sourav be the face of Brand Bengal?

The Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government is keen on involving Sourav Ganguly “as a brand ambassador or in a similar capacity” in projects showcasing West Bengal. And, the star cricketer is interested in doing something for the state, too, urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya said on Wednesday.
According to the minister, who is close to Dada, Sourav recently discussed with him his desire to do something for West Bengal after his retirement.
“He is extremely worried about the Tata Motors pullout. Even the Salboni blast on the chief minister’s convoy has worried him. He has repeatedly conveyed that to me. As a citizen of West Bengal, he is concerned about the state and wants the best for Bengal,” Bhattacharya said, adding that
all along, Sourav was keen on doing something that will benefit the people of the state.
The former Indian captain has long been an icon, not just within the state, but throughout the country and is extremely popular, especially among the youth. “This is the reason why he can well be a brand ambassador for the state or something similar. It is very clear that his involvement in something will impart a new life to it,” Bhattacharya said.
Asked if Sourav would enter politics, he said: “I don’t think so. I have never asked him to be in politics. Nor would I even suggest that to him. However, he can represent Bengal and that would be good for the state, whether it is involvement in something related to industry or sports.”
Sourav is already involved in developing a cricket academy in Salt Lake and a sports complex in Behala.

Unknown - A few 100m north of AJC/Park street crossing, the commercial structure looks to be around 12 floors with glass exterior. Another landmark bldg of Old Kolkata once complete

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/7743/p8240002hr5.jpg

The ex Jugantar Building - now to be Diamond House

Render from Agrawal architects

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/3985/diamondhousekolkatacf5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Godrej Simoco
http://www.agrawalarchitects.com/

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/7272/godrejsimocokolkataey7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Vipul IT Park
http://www.agrawalarchitects.com/

http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/8260/vipulitpark1kolkatair9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Vipul Tech Square
http://vipulgroup.in/vipultechsquare.html

G+18 floors

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/2602/vipultechsquarekolkataad5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Photo cc Ek Chin Tan @flickr

Do u guys know what construction is going on here? First one is in Bullygunje according to the photographer. 2nd one not sure.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/3012522014_c11171d2e4_o.jpg

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/3011684329_3c97e1009e_o.jpg

Godrej Simoco
http://www.agrawalarchitects.com/

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/7272/godrejsimocokolkataey7.jpg

Vipul IT Park
http://www.agrawalarchitects.com/

http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/8260/vipulitpark1kolkatair9.jpg

Vipul Tech Square
http://vipulgroup.in/vipultechsquare.html

G+18 floors

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/2602/vipultechsquarekolkataad5.jpg

Nice find Sun. Some good looking renders. :cheers: I think Godrej Simoco is going on behind the Simoco's existing building at Sec-V.

Nice renders. The shape of Vipul IT park looks good, however it would have been great if all these were 5-10 floors taller.

Photo cc [B]
Do u guys know what construction is going on here? First one is in Bullygunje according to the photographer. 2nd one not sure.



I think both are same project. Glass facade for apartments. Interesting. I am sure someone will be able to dig out info about this project.

Nice renders. The shape of Vipul IT park looks good, however it would have been great if all these were 5-10 floors taller.

I think the tallest building proposed in that area is a 22 storey tower.

Visa House (of the Visa Group - Visa Steel/ Visa Power )

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/2505/visahousekolkatamp3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Chawkgaria | Bengal Ambuja | 20 fls x 14

http://www.bengalambuja.com/projects/residency/upohar/images/luxury-01.jpg

I think the tallest building proposed in that area is a 22 storey tower.

And Godrej Simoco looks closest to reaching that height.

Chawkgaria | Bengal Ambuja | 20 fls x 14

http://www.bengalambuja.com/projects/residency/upohar/images/luxury-01.jpg

Nice find, India#1:cheers:

Intl Convention Center (http://*************************/india/kolkata_convention_centre.htm)

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/7989/kolkataconventioncentreuq2.jpg

http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/8396/kolkataconventioncentrewv3.jpg

^^the construction for that should have started by now.

^^the construction for that should have started by now.

It is u/c..

It is u/c..
it started and again stopped !!
I do not see any activity there for past few months.

Flyover for south fringe (http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081111/jsp/calcutta/story_10091844.jsp)

The government is poised to construct a 12-km two-lane flyover connecting Budge Budge on the southern fringes to Taratala for faster connectivity with the city proper. There is also a parallel plan to marry the flyover with a monorail.

“As Calcutta is growing along the southern fringes, the need for easier and smoother access to the heart of the city is felt every day. So, we have decided to construct a flyover that can be used by cars for a toll fee,” PWD minister Kshiti Goswami said on Monday.

The project, to be executed on a public-private-partnership model, will cost around Rs 600 crore.

According to sources in the PWD, the government has already held discussions with real-estate developers like the Eden Group and the United Credit Belani Properties, which have “evinced interest” in joining hands with the PWD for the project.

“A lot of projects are coming up on the southern fringes of the city and a flyover will make these projects more attractive,” said a senior PWD official.

During preliminary talks, the government has said it would chip in with one-third of the project cost while the rest would be borne by the private players, who would form a consortium.

“We are keen on the project. The government has already hired IL&FS for a detailed project report, which should be ready by end-November,” said Indranil Dey, the chairman of Eden City.

To be executed in a phased manner — the first phase would connect Budge Budge and Jinjirabazar — the project would be implemented through build, operate and transfer (BOT).

Besides planning a high-speed corridor for people who can afford to pay a price for a faster ride, the government is planning a mass transit system, an adaptation of the Japanese model of elevated tram tracks below flyovers.

“Our department is working on a proposal for a monorail below the flyover for mass transit. The population has grown manifold in those areas and so a mass transit system is a necessity,” said minister Goswami.

According to the PWD proposal, the monorail project would connect Budge Budge in the first phase and later it would extend from Joka to Ranikuthi and then move to Rajarhat via EM Bypass.

“A prospective investor will be meeting us soon for another round of presentation,” said Goswami.

CESC signs MoU with Singapore Power to improve power supply in Kolkata (http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19839&sectionid=4&issueid=79&Itemid=1)

Reeling under hours of power cut, the onset of winter seemed to be the only respite from the heat for people of Kolkata. But now there seems to be a ray of hope. CESC has signed an MoU with Singapore Power for technology transfer and a better distribution of power in its licensed area in Kolkata. At present three of CESC's generating units rank among the top five units in India, Sanjiv Goenka, vice-chairman of CESC said, after signing the contract with Ong Boon Hwee, chief operating officer, Singapore Power and director of SP Global Solutions.

Goenka said that recent analysis, carried out by Netherlands-based KEMA who developed the System Average Interruption Duration Index, rated the power distribution system in Singapore as the most reliable in the world, which leads cities like Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul and Melbourne. It has the shortest power disruption in any city, at 1.14 minutes.

CESC will spend around Rs 2000 cr over the next three to five years to upgrade itself.

"I will not say we will reach Singapore standards in a year, because we can't. But I can definitely say that the consumers will be much better served than they are being now," he said. He also assured that this expense will not be reflected in any tariff and so the consumer will not have to pay anything extra.

He added: "Maximum demand in CESC area, for the first time, reached 1450 MW on October 1, 2008. Our generation stations are also creating new records. Southern, with a capacity of 135 MW is India's No. 1. Budge Budge (400 MW) is in fourth place while Titagarh is in fifth."

However, he added that power generation is not enough. "We are now trying to improve the distribution set up so that we can serve our existing 2 million consumers better and also offer the same quality of service to 80,000 new consumers, who will be joining us this year."

Singapore Power will offer consultancy in strategic planning, technology application and process standardisation. "We are perhaps the first major power company in India to induct a world leader in rejuvenating our distribution system. It will be for one year now, and if needed the period of association can be increased," Mr Goenka said.

1 crore mobiles in city by year-end
1 crore = 10 million; 1 lakh = 100,000

TOI epaper

Over a decade after mobile phones were introduced in Kolkata, the city is on the threshold of a milestone. It is all set to notch up one crore connections by the year-end. Delhi has over 1.8 crore and Mumbai over 1.5 crore subscribers.

“Kolkata should hit one crore subscribers by the year-end. And there’s no hint of saturation. The mobile count is still growing at a healthy 35-40% per annum,” said Vodafone CEO (Kolkata and West Bengal) Sridhar Rao.

The subscriber count was pegged at around 96.5 lakh in the end of September and around three lakh connections are being added each month.

What’s also significant is that the subscriber count in West Bengal and Kolkata put together has already crossed the two-crore mark. Of the 2.22 crore subscribers till September 2008, more than one crore were added in the past 12 months.

“The growth in rural Bengal is happening at a fair clip of 60% a year. There’s lots of latent demand that has to be met,” said Airtel CEO (Kolkata and West Bengal) Ajai Puri. Nearly six lakh connections are being added in the Bengal circle each month.

While West Bengal has eight wireless players now, two operators — Vodafone and Airtel — have cornered over 1.2 crore subscribers in the state (including Kolkata circle). Vodafone leads the pack with a subscriber base of 6.25 million.

Incidentally, Kolkata was the first Indian city to go mobile in 1995 with Modi Telstra. Months later, Usha Martin Telekom (Command) followed. Modi Telstra changed its nomenclature to Spice which was then acquired by Bharti Airtel in 2001. Usha Martin Telekom, too, changed hands. It became Hutchison Essar and subsequently Vodafone Essar.

Till 1999, only 69,000-odd opted for the new technology with call charges a major barrier. Both outgoing and incoming calls cost over Rs 16 a minute. With charges being rationalized over the next two years and incoming calls made free, the subscriber base jumped to 2.26 lakh by 2001-end.

The real growth began thereafter with new players (BSNL in 2002, Reliance in 2003, Tata Indicom in 2005) joining the fray and introducing a host of new schemes (lifetime connection) that pulled down the entry barrier and made cellphones affordable.

“We are glad to be a part of this wonderful growth. We are confident that like Kolkata, rest of east will witness significant growth in future,” Tata Teleservices regional head (East) and COO (Kolkata) Sanjiv Sinha said.

While the subscriber base in Kolkata has grown by four times in the past three years, it’s been phenomenal in the rest of Bengal: from 8 lakh in 2005 to 1.2 crore in 2008.

Mobile phone usage in the city is also hitting record highs with cumulative talktime at 30 crore minutes everyday and 1 crore SMSes daily.

Metro Cash & Carry to open outlet on Dec 4

TOI epaper

Metro Cash & Carry will be thrown open to the public on December 4. This German supply major outlet off the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass will be inaugurated the day before, possibly by chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

Metro officials met ministers Naren De and Mortaza Hossain among others on Monday. The outlet will be the company’s fifth outlet in the country after Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Metro’s special focus would be hotels, restaurants, traders and kirana stores.

The opening of the outlet is a major development as the Forward Bloc controlled agricultural marketing board had refused to issue a fresh licence to the wholesale outlet a few months ago. Later, it agreed to give the nod after placing certain conditions.

CPM and Forward Bloc were locked in a major tussle over the issue. Finally, the marketing board and the Bloc agreed to issue a fresh licence and a memorandum of understanding was signed between the company and the state government on October 10.

Metro will do business with only those who have APMC licences. Though it can purchase from private markets or regulatory marketing committees, it has to pay one per cent market fee while selling the produce. Other conditions include a bar on contract farming with farmers and only following the business-to-business model with traders. Also, in case of a legal dispute, it must be sorted out in a court of law within the state.

The German wholesale major has already trained 350 persons to work in its outlet. According to its officials, the wholesale centres are open exclusively for business customers, all of them duly registered and provided with customer identification cards.

1 crore mobiles in city by year-end
1 crore = 10 million; 1 lakh = 100,000

TOI epaper

While the subscriber base in Kolkata has grown by four times in the past three years, it’s been phenomenal in the rest of Bengal: from 8 lakh in 2005 to 1.2 crore in 2008.

Very nice. Hope within a year or two internet would go like this.

Intl Convention Center (http://*************************/india/kolkata_convention_centre.htm)

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/7989/kolkataconventioncentreuq2.jpg

http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/8396/kolkataconventioncentrewv3.jpg

What is that egg looking thing in the water?

What is that egg looking thing in the water?

Isn't it beautiful. Its going to be a glass theater surrounded by water. I don't know about the acoustics though...but wtv...i am sure the ppl incharge have figured it out by now.

Mayor of Kunming wants stronger ties between cities (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/Mayor_of_Kunming_wants_stronger_ties_between_cities/articleshow/3697484.cms)
: China’s Kunming, which is only a two-and-a-half-hour flight from Kolkata, wants a stronger bond with the city by promoting trade, culture
and tourism to beat the global recession. “This is our friendly neighbourhood trip to the city. We have come to meet the people of the city only to speak heart to heart,” said Kunming mayor Zhang Zulin on Monday.

Zulin said though there is only a twice-a-week flight from Kolkata to Kunming, but according to their assessment, both cities now need daily air connectivity for effective exchange of trade, culture and tourism. This tour will explore all possibilities to forge a stronger bond between the cities to bring out the best in mutual interest. “Together we can create a biggest market in South-East Asia,” Zulin added.

The founder chairperson of the 21st century China India Centre for Culture and Communication, Dr Dana Schuppert, said: “The meeting of India and China, which are two of the oldest civilizations in the world, generates tremendous vibes. China is my home by choice and I love to come to India. I am always fascinated by the very idea of the coming together of the two states, West Bengal and Yunnan, or the two cities, Kunming and Kolkata.”

The Chinese delegation also includes the deputy mayor of Kunming, other municipal officials and Chinese entrepreneurs from different government and non-government agencies of the city. We can offer help to Kolkata as far as process industry, agriculture and transportation management is concerned. At the same time, we want to outsource hospitality management and information technology from here, said Zulin.

Zulin also took a keen interest in Kolkata’s China town. “If the local government wants to rebuild the China town as a typical Chinese city with authentic Chinese architecture, we can definitely be of some help,” he added.
In the afternoon, the two mayors signed a memorandum of understanding on tourism, culture and administration. “This is the beginning of our friendship. We will continue to meet each other,” said mayor Bikash Bhattacharya.

Nov. 10, 2008.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_N0ccx1yBPHc/SRnQatbi9GI/AAAAAAAAAD8/a9x5TPiUsxc/s576/9.jpg

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_N0ccx1yBPHc/SRnSXFdHOII/AAAAAAAAAEc/JvfT5nr16fM/s576/5.jpg

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_N0ccx1yBPHc/SRnS4qhQDaI/AAAAAAAAAE8/bW63jAzuQDs/s576/6.jpg

Nov. 10, 2008

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_N0ccx1yBPHc/SRnUALix2DI/AAAAAAAAAFc/YbbMXZVz9GY/s576/15.jpg

Nov. 10, 2008

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_N0ccx1yBPHc/SRnUv4BWG_I/AAAAAAAAAF8/tES1DSd6E4c/s576/19.jpg

The classic yellow'n'black curb.

Status: Nov. 10, 2008
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_N0ccx1yBPHc/SRnm0GXmnII/AAAAAAAAAGc/qIcK56R2fzI/s576/56.jpg

Nov. 10, 2008

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_N0ccx1yBPHc/SRnnYFahcrI/AAAAAAAAAG8/JHSE3zhdRh4/s576/58.jpg

VEGCHOP, you are amazing. Thanks for the great update pics. Axis Mall looks like a museum and Greenwood Sonata looks like a Kolkata style statement.

Hey vegchop - thanks for the updates :cheers:

Thanks guys! All credit to my cousin in Kolkata.

Nov. 10, 2008

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_N0ccx1yBPHc/SRofIMhU-NI/AAAAAAAAAHc/0poDkthiKd4/s576/59.jpg

Kudos to Vegchop and his cousin. :bow:

So there are 5 malls we can see almost done in Newtown area

1. City Centre II(they are putting glass on Windows)
2. Axis
3. DLF Galleria
4. Terminas
5. Block-by-Block

Besides those pictures are there any other malls in Newtown u/c?

The classic yellow'n'black curb.

Status: Nov. 10, 2008
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_N0ccx1yBPHc/SRnm0GXmnII/AAAAAAAAAGc/qIcK56R2fzI/s576/56.jpg

Did they recently repaint the divider? It looks nice. :cheers:

I think the building is the Block by Block building.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_N0ccx1yBPHc/SRofIMhU-NI/AAAAAAAAAHc/0poDkthiKd4/s576/59.jpg

Thanks to Vegchop and his cousin (Eggchop?) for the pictures.

Which building?

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/1968/whatsthisim3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Suncity, thanks for the correction. That could be block-by-block, though I thought it was more colorful.

Suncity, thanks for the correction. That could be block-by-block, though I thought it was more colorful.

I thought so too. I am not sure. Maybe the Galleria has two sections? A low rise and a high rise?

X-tra Mall, Rajarhat (by Rungtas?); Have seen this next to Axis Mall in some maps.

photo/info from http://www.tech9.in/projects.html

http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/5290/xtramallrajarhathk5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Is this the X-tra Mall u/c next to the Axis (on left side)?

http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/3681/xtramallmaybehr7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I think the building is the Block by Block building.
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_N0ccx1yBPHc/SRofIMhU-NI/AAAAAAAAAHc/0poDkthiKd4/s576/59.jpg

Thanks to Vegchop and his cousin (Eggchop?) for the pictures.

I that case they didn’t start construction of Galleria? From the picture it seems that the site is just besides the Blck-by-blck. And interestingly the advertisements in the photo look recent.

X-tra Mall, Rajarhat (by Rungtas?); Have seen this next to Axis Mall in some maps.

photo/info from http://www.tech9.in/projects.html

http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/5290/xtramallrajarhathk5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Is this the X-tra Mall u/c next to the Axis (on left side)?

http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/3681/xtramallmaybehr7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

So how many malls are coming at Rajarhat? Can someone give a list?

So how many malls are coming at Rajarhat? Can someone give a list?

To your list of five add the following

6) X-tra mall (if the above is true).
7) Also Unitech has proposed a mall (as per their website).
8) proposed Grand Mall by DLF (as per their website).

there are too many malls in the NEW TOWN area. I can see them shutting down after a year or two, when the economy fails completely under the leadership of OBAMA.

hi can any 1 give some photos regarding hiland sapphire and high end residential apartments in ballygunge

http://www.hilandcal.com/sapphire_gallery.htm

^^dude...you can't have that username. Go change it to something else. I am Kolkata.

9. DLF Newtown Heights Plaza -- already announced in dlf website. It is within their 25 acres residential project. It will not be a full fledged mall....smaller in size ... i think around 70,000 sq. ft.

Is the DLF Grand Mall really happening ? I think it changed (and downsized) to DLF Galleria.

XTRA Mall is also not full sized mall ... it is quite small in size.

To your list of five add the following

6) X-tra mall (if the above is true).
7) Also Unitech has proposed a mall (as per their website).
8) proposed Grand Mall by DLF (as per their website).

^^dude...you can't have that username. Go change it to something else. I am Kolkata.

:lol:

Kolkata Rocks - Welcome to the forum. :)

Webel offers IT-ready space, Nasscom in talks with institutes (http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=340006)

West Bengal would now offer infrastructure to start-up IT companies to kick-start operations in 24-hours.

In an effort to boost the growth of small and medium companies in the sector, the state government has started two facilities at Taratala and Durgapur in West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation's (Webel) premises.

"These two facilities can together offer around 500 seats in the plug and play format. One can start a company with a group of people and laptops within 24 hours in these premises for which they pay a rent",the state IT minister Debesh Das said here at Nasscom CEO summit 2008.

Around 20 to 25 units have already started work at Durgapur. The Taratala facility, that will house 350 seats is yet to be ready.

The IT department was keen to come up with a similar set up in heart of the state IT hub in Sector-5 of Salt Lake.

"We are already working on developing a smaller facility in Sector-5. It could be operational in around 15 to 18 months", said Debanjan Dutta, managing director, Webel.

As for offering land to the two IT majors Wipro and Infosys after they signed a memorandum of understanding with the state government in April this year for buying 90 and 100 acre plots respectively, Das said that land could be offered by December.

"The acquisition and purchasing of land for the project was still on" he added.

The state government planned to offer land to both the companies in the 600 acre Kolkata IT Link near Rajarhat, a joint venture project between Webel and Akash Nirman Private Ltd.

Akash Nirman was, in turn, a joint venture between two city based real estate developers, Diamond Group and Vedic Realty.

In a parallel development, Nasscom Eastern region council, set up in July 2008, is talking to premier institutes in Kolkata to include modules on information technology, in an attempt to create skilled labour for the information technology here.

Speaking at the Nasscom CEO Summit 2008, V V R Babu, ITC Infotech India Limited, said, “There is always dearth of skilled and ready manpower in the city. Even engineering graduates have to undergo long trainee period whichever company they join after graduation. To bridge this need-based gap, we are talking to institutes in the city so that they include modules in their curriculum on systems management and other information technology related nitty-gritties.”

So far, 500 police officials from West Bengal and Kolkata Police have been trained by Nasscom eastern regional council in cyber-security. A total of 1100 police officers have been trained over a three-year period, which is by far the highest across regions, outside of Maharashtra, where the program was initiated

Videocon to set up 24 storey IT park

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/Software/Videocon_to_set_up_IT_park_in_Kolkata/rssarticleshow/3575348.cms

Videocon is setting up a 24-storeyed IT park at Salt Lake, where it has a consumer electronics factory. The total built-up area of the IT Park is 3.8 million sq ft. The cost of the project has been pegged at Rs 800 crore. Consulting Engineering Services has been appointed consultant for the project.

Shapoorji Pallonji is doing the construction work for the project, which is slated to be completed by end of 2010.

According to company sources work is going ahead as per schedule. Cushman and Wakefield, the global real estate consultant, is helping Videocon to locate IT clients who can be housed in the upcoming Salt Lake IT Park.

It seems TOI is worried that the flyover is being constructed. That’s what I felt after reading the news.

Trees felled to make way for VIP Rd flyover

KOLKATA: The upcoming flyover connecting EM Bypass and VIP Road will make commuting easier and faster. But this development is at the expense of A number of trees have been hacked on VIP Road recently. (TOI Photo by Kamalendu Bhadra)
greenery on the 8-km stretch of VIP Road. Merely a month after many trees were hacked to facilitate construction of the flyover, trees are being felled once again.

KMDA is constructing the flyover so that vehicles travelling to and from the airport can bypass the busy Ultadanga crossing.

District forest officials have no clue on either the felling of trees or plans for compensatory plantation. “As of now, we are not aware of any trees being felled on VIP Road and which agency has done it. At times there is a genuine need to cut down trees for development projects. But this has to be done with permission. I have to check if permission was obtained for the felling and must go into the details of the compensatory plantation packages,” said North 24-Parganas district forest officer Rana Dutta.

Development and other construction activities are robbing the VIP Road of its greenery. Many trees were hacked around two years ago when PWD constructed two footbridges at Golaghata and Shreebhumi. There have been reports of trees often being chopped to make way for hoarding and billboards.

The only patch of green on the 8-km road is just a 2-km stretch on the Salt Lake flank from the Ultadanga road overbridge till Dum Dum Park. Saplings planted for compensatory plantation besides the Bagjola canal near Kestopur were not properly cared for.

These plants died after mud deposits from canal dredging were dumped on them nearly a year ago. Many saplings planted elsewhere have either died or remained malnourished because of lack of proper care.

Though KMDA officials promised compensatory plantation for all the trees felled for construction, none could give specific plans on the number of saplings to be planted and in what area.

“Adequate number of saplings will be planted to make up for the loss in and around the area from where trees have been axed,” said a KMDA source.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/Trees_felled_to_make_way_for_VIP_Rd_flyover/articleshow/3706557.cms

Videocon to set up 24 storey IT park

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/Software/Videocon_to_set_up_IT_park_in_Kolkata/rssarticleshow/3575348.cms

Good news. That means it may become the tallest in Saltlake. Though I will be happy if something goes at least 30 in Saltlake.

25 or 27?

Painter dabs heritage hues to Kolkata trams

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/painter-dabs-heritage-hues-to-kolkata-trams/385183/

Twenty-seven trams renovated with the paintings of artist Samir Biswas were unveiled on Wednesday.
Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya flagged off the trams and said the heritage trams will add a new dimension to the trams and will draw tourists towards tram rides. The trams carry paintings of heritage buildings and various sights of Kolkata.

Biswas, who made the paintings, said he traversed the entire city to get a feel of what should be painted on the trams. “I began from the south, the house of Sabarna Raichowdhury and travelled up to the gullies of north Kolkata. I also visited the eastern area, where new developments were taking place,” he said.

While the exterior of a tram portrays the city’s landscape such as the river and the boats, the interiors have familiar landmarks like the Victoria Memorial.

“Kolkata is a heritage city and the tram is an integral part of it. There can be no better way to visualise the city than taking a heritage ride in a tram,” said Biswas. Besides, promoting the city’s heritage and tourism, the authorities hope it brings denizens to the trams.


Aircel promotion

http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=340014

As a part of its brand promotion or outdoor advertising activity, Aircel today launched its advertising initiative using 25 Kolkata trams.

Used so long for normal advertising, they were flagged off today with paintings by city artist Samir Biswas, both on the interior and exterior walls, depicting the ethos and spirit of the city through some of Kolkata's symbols like Howrah bridge, Rani Rashmoni's house, Coffee house, St Paul's Cathedral, Victoria Memorial, etc.

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/4427/newtownflyoverser2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/newtownflyoverser2.jpg/1/w1116.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img224/newtownflyoverser2.jpg/1/)

Which building?

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/1968/whatsthisim3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

It is probably the Srijan PS Tech Park (The Hub).

http://wikimapia.org/4232490/PS-Srijan-Tech-Park-HUB

http://www.srijanrealty.com/tech_park.html

It seems TOI is worried that the flyover is being constructed. That’s what I felt after reading the news.



http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/Trees_felled_to_make_way_for_VIP_Rd_flyover/articleshow/3706557.cms

^^ They are perhaps confused with the trees that may be chopped off due to the flyover versus those that have been illegally chopped off to make way for billboards on EM Byass & VIP Rd.

I did see the ongoing construction 3 months back and if my guess about the alignment is correct not many trees are going to be impacted. There may be some on EM Bypass but do not think of any on VIP Road.

http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/4427/newtownflyoverser2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/newtownflyoverser2.jpg/1/w1116.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img224/newtownflyoverser2.jpg/1/)

pls translate :ohno:

pls translate :ohno:

Summary: HIDCO will build 16 flyovers, underpasses, Hump(?) etc throughout Newtown. They are going to start construction of 4 of the flyovers from next year beginning. These 4 flyovers will be constructed over 4 different junctions on the main road(newtwon ex'way). Length of the bridges will be around 300-550 mts. They will finish the work within 18 months. HIDCO will provide the money.

Originally Posted by Suncity
Videocon to set up 24 storey IT park

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...ow/3575348.cms

Good news. That means it may become the tallest in Saltlake. Though I will be happy if something goes at least 30 in Saltlake.
__________________

I think the 38 million square feet, as reported in respect of the IT park, is a printing mistake. No where in the world till now has that much area of a single building having only 24 storeys.:ohno:

Summary: HIDCO will build 16 flyovers, underpasses, Hump(?) etc throughout Newtown. They are going to start construction of 4 of the flyovers from next year beginning. These 4 flyovers will be constructed over 4 different junctions on the main road(newtwon ex'way). Length of the bridges will be around 300-550 mts. They will finish the work within 18 months. HIDCO will provide the money.

thanks man!

InterContinental roped in for Batanagar project

TOI epaper

Riverbank Developers is entering into a management contract with Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) for running the proposed hotel and serviced apartments facility at Batanagar, currently being redeveloped. Riverbank is a 50:50 JV between Bata India and Calcutta Metropolitan Group.

As part of the initial 15-year deal between Riverbank and IHG, the hotel at Batanagar would be branded Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts and have 200 rooms.

Both the hotel and 75 serviced apartments would occupy a single building, with a few floors either at the lower or upper portions being reserved for the latter. “The cost of construction of the hotel and serviced apartments will be Rs 175 crore. The facility should be in place by 2013,” a source familiar with the developments said.

“Except the hotel, the first phase of the redevelopment should be completed in 2011,” he added.

Never knew about this project. Though in design stage. From Agrawalarchitects website (http://www.agrawalarchitects.com/projects/ORION-TECH-SEZ.html#).

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/seimens_agarwal.jpg

http://www.lauregeneste.com/index.php/archi/kolkata-international-conference-center-india/

Park hotel renovation?

http://www.conranandpartners.com/index.php/work/interior/recent/park_kol_curr

pictures look nice. But, that is only pictures. In reality, no work is going on in that plot. May be because of of Unitech's cash flow problem or something else. Whatever it is, we have to satisfy ourselves only with these pictures for long time to come.
http://www.lauregeneste.com/index.php/archi/kolkata-international-conference-center-india/

http://www.lauregeneste.com/index.php/archi/kolkata-international-conference-center-india/

looks like everything is all set to go. This is the best in terms of luxury is concerned...not just in Asia but the world. I have been to convention centers around Philly and Washington DC but nothing compares to the one under construction in Kolkata.

pictures look nice. But, that is only pictures. In reality, no work is going on in that plot. May be because of of Unitech's cash flow problem or something else. Whatever it is, we have to satisfy ourselves only with these pictures for long time to come.

Chill man, it's nothing about satisfaction. It is just for information purpose. Some major infrastructural projects all over India(actually all over the world) are hit by the economic slowdown . It could be because of that. I think we have to wait for some more time.

Income from rooftop power (http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081117/jsp/calcutta/story_10090128.jsp)


http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/740/24510789yg4.jpg
The West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation is dangling an extra-income option and tax sops before companies to make them generate solar power.

For a month from November 15, business establishments with roofs larger than 50,000 sq ft can seek permission from the corporation to produce solar power there.

The corporation will provide technical support for the projects. It will also obtain the necessary permissions from the power utilities.

On an average, about 250KW of solar power can be produced per hour on a 50,000 sq ft roof. Companies can sell the power to the grid for Rs 11 per unit (250KW is equivalent to about 1,500 units).

At the current rate, a company producing 250KW can earn Rs 17,000 per day. S.P. Gonchowdhury, the managing director of the corporation, said it would take a company six to seven years to recover the initial investment of Rs 4 crore.

In addition to earning money, companies producing green power stand to get tax benefits and a green certificate.

According to Gonchowdhury, some large companies here, including a resort with a roof over 1.5 lakh sq ft, have shown interest in the scheme. “The companies are interested because they stand to earn utilising their roofs, which normally lie abandoned. We have approached the central government
for more incentives.”

LPG switch catalyst for gas racket (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/LPG_switch_catalyst_for_gas_racket_/articleshow/3730124.cms)
KOLKATA: The cottage industry that makes crores out of selling adulterated cancerous kaata tel to autorickshaws has sunk its claws into the LPG network as well.
Racketeers are using no more than cheap foot-pumps to siphon off gas from subsidized domestic cylinders and sell them to auto wallahs at half the price of auto LPG. And they have named it, what else, but 'kaata-gas'.
:bash:
With the state government pushing for sweeping changes in the city's ragtag and unruly auto sector, and imposing a December 31 deadline to switch to LPG, the kaata tel rackteers are finding new ways to keep their illegal business running. Unlike kaata tel, kaata-gas will not pump toxins into the city air, but it will trigger a crisis on the domestic front. Since pilferage will shoot up once autos start converting to LPG, officials fear it could lead to a crisis in supply of cooking gas.

It is pure economics that is fuelling the illegal siphoning of LPG from domestic gas cylinders. Auto LPG costs Rs 36.29 per litre. A domestic LPG cylinder, which has 14.2 kg of LPG, sells at a subsidized price of Rs 350. The same cylinder is sold to the racketeers at anything between Rs 450 and Rs 500 on the basis of its availability. Since one kg of LPG is equivalent to 1.8 litres, one gets about 24 litres of LPG in a domestic cylinder. Selling the kaata-gas at Rs 17 to Rs 20 per litre is a hugely profitable proposition - it's 50% cheaper than auto LPG. "Even if you buy a litre of kaatagas at Rs 20 per litre, you will have a edge of Rs 16 over auto-LPG ," said Rupak Das, who has been in the "conversion business" for nearly one decade.

"The siphoning racket uses both manual pumps - operated by hand or foot - and electronic ones. These pump sets come with meters and it is easy to siphon gas directly off domestic cylinders to the auto-gas chamber in the vehicle. These pumps are available in the open market. Racketeers have an easy run," said auto emission consultant S M Ghosh.

Like kaata tel, kaata-gas is also selling the most in the suburbs. Beyond Kolkata Municipal Corporation area, there is not a single auto-LPG dispensing station (the first LPG station in the districts is coming up at Panihati ). Owners of LPG autos say they have to turn to the illegal industry. "But there is a deep racket here. Why is it that all RTAs - from Barasat to Siliguri - have generously given permits to LPG-autos when there is not a single auto-LPG station in these areas? Auto operators have no option but to use domestic LPG cylinders," said Anup Chandra, who is with an LPG retrofitment agency in North 24-Parganas .

A senior Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) official admitted there was largescale pilferage. "No doubt, pilferage is on despite several layers of checks and balances. As long as subsidy exists for domestic LPG, it is difficult to stop this illegal act. But if the pilferage suddenly shoots up because a large number of petrol autos shift to LPG, then there will definitely be problems. The effect will be apparent in the domestic sector," he said.

State Level Coordinator for oil Companies Debasish Sen said: "Our daily capacity at the 12 auto-LPG stations in Kolkata is around 2,000 tonnes, whereas consumption is only 210 tonnes. By this year end we are adding 12 more stations. So our capacity will be doubled. We are much ahead of the probable demand."

looks like everything is all set to go. This is the best in terms of luxury is concerned...not just in Asia but the world. I have been to convention centers around Philly and Washington DC but nothing compares to the one under construction in Kolkata.

^^The best I have seen in India so far is the Hyderabad Intl Convention center but this one looks much bigger. Let us see how this turns out.

Chocolate Hotels Pvt Ltd, a Kolkata-based company from Hotel Polo Towers Group of Shillong, is coming up with the first hip hotel in Kolkata, which will be a first of its kind in Eastern India. The 63-room Chrome Hotel will be completely different from the group’s already existing property in Shillong.

On this new concept which is not yet so popular in India, Deval Tibrewalla, CEO and Director, Chocolate Hotels Pvt Ltd says, “The concept of hip hotel has caught the imagination of the young business travellers across the world and we are confident that it will do so in India also. So, when we wanted to invest in a business hotel in this region, we decided to commission a hip hotel which will meet the needs of the young business traveller.”

The property will also target the leisure segment and will have four suites and four junior suites with all modern facilities that a latest five star hotel can offer. “We consider the star rating to be outdated and we want the property to be popular as a hip hotel,” adds Tibrewalla. He further said that the hotel will have a customised shower system in every bathroom, which is called ‘Adrenaline’ and special mattresses called ‘Fat Bed.’

On choosing Kolkata as the first destination to commission such a unique concept, Tibrewalla explains that Kolkata, which is juxtaposed between extreme traditional and modern outlook, still lacks quality business hotels to woo the young business crowd from all over the world. Chrome Hotel is slated to start its operation in January next year. However, features like the gym and the swimming pool will take another two months to be operational.

Source: http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/detailNews.aspx?aid=2607&sid=1

Chocolate Hotels Pvt Ltd, a Kolkata-based company from Hotel Polo Towers Group of Shillong, is coming up with the first hip hotel in Kolkata, which will be a first of its kind in Eastern India. The 63-room Chrome Hotel will be completely different from the group’s already existing property in Shillong.

Source: http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/detailNews.aspx?aid=2607&sid=1

Another news article

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081117/jsp/entertainment/story_10117404.jsp

Calcutta will soon be home to another hotel. Chrome is all set to open doors in January 2009 at 226 AJC Bose Road (near La Martiniere for Girls School). The eight-storeyed hotel houses 63 rooms, including four suites.

Chrome is pegged as an “alternative hotel”, devoid of the extraneous trappings of a “standard luxury hotel”. In fact Deval Tibrewalla, CEO and director, Chocolate Hotels Pvt Ltd., claims that no two Chromes will be similar. Personal service is the highlight at this property. “We have paid attention to the smallest details, such as the mattresses,” explains Deval.

We have focussed on the design since today people are very design conscious. From ground up, we wanted our hotel to look high-end,” says Deval. No two rooms at Chrome, points out Deval, look alike.

The rooms have been categorised according to their size and the facilities they offer. There are Chrome rooms, High Chrome rooms, theme rooms and suites. While a Chrome room will have an LCD, a High Chrome room will come with Bose music systems and butler service. The suites will have televisions in the bathrooms.

Chrome will have an all-day dining and a “fine-dining” restaurant. For entertainment, there will be a nightclub and a lounge. You can also take a dip in the pool or sweat it out in the gym.

Headquarters shift drives road extension (http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081120/jsp/calcutta/story_10116180.jsp)

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/6868/55019309pb1.jpg
The Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has taken up a scheme to build a 12-km road from Garia to Baruipur as part of the plan to shift the district headquarters of South 24-Parganas.

The four-lane road, which will link the EM Bypass to the proposed site of the district headquarters in Baruipur, will be laid in two phases. The headquarters is now based in Alipore.

In the first phase, the road will extend from Garia to Kamalgazi, and in the next phase up to Baruipur.

Land acquisition and alignment work for the road are complete. Local CPM parliamentarian Sujan Chakraborty, the CPM legislator from Baruipur, Rahul Ghosh, and senior officials of the CMDA surveyed the area before the road plan was finalised.

The people’s representatives and the CMDA officials also decided to build six bridges across Tolly’s Nullah.

The project cost for the road has been estimated at Rs 54 crore, which will be provided by the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission Scheme under its Ganga Action Plan.

“The new road will be vital after the headquarters is shifted to Baruipur,” said Chakraborty.

The shift will see a spurt in construction in the small district town. “A healthcare hub and a technical college are among the immediate priorities. Once these projects and many more come up, traffic to and from Baruipur will increase manifold. The road has been planned keeping this in mind,” Chakraborty added.

The thoroughfare will run on both sides of Tolly’s Nullah. The stretches along the banks will be beautified.

“We also have plans to construct at least six bridges across Tolly’s Nullah in phases,” he added.

The state environment department and the Union ministry of environment and forests have sanctioned Rs 24 crore for building the bridges and the beautification project.

Chunar De, the chief engineer of the CMDA’s Ganga Action Plan sector, said: “We hope to finish work before the monsoon if everything goes according to plan.”

P.B.Nag, the general secretary of Development Employees Joint Action Committee, said the project had been delayed by a year because of land acquisition problems.

Headquarters shift drives road extension (http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081120/jsp/calcutta/story_10116180.jsp)

Isn't it the part of bypass extension project? Anyway, let’s hope CMDA doesn't make it like the EM bypass and tries to do it like Rajarhat ex’way. The quality should be at least like Ruby to Garia stretch of EM bypass. They should give the project to a company like SREI or Tantia.

Isn't it the part of bypass extension project? Anyway, let’s hope CMDA doesn't make it like the EM bypass and tries to do it like Rajarhat ex’way. The quality should be at least like Ruby to Garia stretch of EM bypass. They should give the project to a company like SREI or Tantia.

I dont think so ! I dont find logic in making a 10 lane road which will not be utilised well, I beleive more in the incremental approach. You should have seen the number of accidents that used to happen in Rajarhat initially. Considering the shoestring budgets that our Govt has and the number of times Rajarhat ex'way has been renovated, I think they should acquire the land and broaden it whenever necessary.

How come our great Mamata Didi and her party isn't opposing land aquisition in Baruipur?

I dont think so ! I dont find logic in making a 10 lane road which will not be utilised well, I beleive more in the incremental approach. You should have seen the number of accidents that used to happen in Rajarhat initially. Considering the shoestring budgets that our Govt has and the number of times Rajarhat ex'way has been renovated, I think they should acquire the land and broaden it whenever necessary.

Well, you are right, initially making a 10 lane road to Baruipur is not suitable. But, I was not talking about wideness. 4 lane is enough. I was talking about the quality. CMDA should look at the NHAI projects around Kolkata and make a standard. It should look like Rajarhat ex'way with better quality.:)

How come our great Mamata Didi and her party isn't opposing land aquisition in Baruipur?

Wait, they will. :nuts:

Photo cc Girish @picasaweb

It seems a recent photo.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/IMG_0380.jpg

Pearl Hotel

TOI Epaper

Pearl Hospitality Pvt Ltd, the latest entrant in the budget hotel chain business, plans to invest Rs 150 crore in hotel properties in Kolkata, Patna and Mumbai over the next three years.

Inaugurating the first Pearl Hotel in the city, a 34-room property acquired for Rs 15 crore, company managing director S H Rahman said the group would set up a 125-room hotel in Patna for Rs 45 crore and a 80-room hotel in Navi Mumbai for Rs 55 crore. The company also owns Housez 43, a 30-room property in downtown Kolkata.

website http://www.pearlgroup.in/hospitality.htm

Wait, they will. :nuts:

Actually I did read a news article sometime back which said that Mamata and her party members were sniffing around Baruipur to see if they could start another "agitation".

Anyway apparently she will be selling potatoes in Singur in December. December seems to be Mamata's favourite month for dramatics. Last year she had a 20 day hunger strike without shedding a single pound.

Isn't it the part of bypass extension project? Anyway, let’s hope CMDA doesn't make it like the EM bypass and tries to do it like Rajarhat ex’way. The quality should be at least like Ruby to Garia stretch of EM bypass. They should give the project to a company like SREI or Tantia.

^^Actually you mean the quality from Ruby to Chingrihata which was the best till the rains. After that it became craters all the way from Parama island to Garia and I believe owing to bitumen shortage they have not yet restored the stretch after the rains.

Eventually the best would be to mastic asphalt the whole of EM bypass.

I dont think so ! I dont find logic in making a 10 lane road which will not be utilised well, I beleive more in the incremental approach. You should have seen the number of accidents that used to happen in Rajarhat initially. Considering the shoestring budgets that our Govt has and the number of times Rajarhat ex'way has been renovated, I think they should acquire the land and broaden it whenever necessary.

^^ Yes, I think now New Town xway has finally got superior quality ( on the lines of our national highways) after a few times of relaying of the stretch. The four flyovers that are coming up next year and the construction of the second arterial road which is in progress would complete the picture as far as road development in New Town is concerned.

Regarding 10 lanes of road width, I think EM Bypass needs it and more so if they are going to use two of the lanes for BRTS in the future. EM Bypass is not the same as it was even 1.5-2 years ago. The mushrooming of residential clusters all the way to Garia and beyond as put a lot of strain on the road. So, yes 8-10 lanes + flyovers ( atleast humps) at key junctions are must to ensure a smooth traffic flow

Well, you are right, initially making a 10 lane road to Baruipur is not suitable. But, I was not talking about wideness. 4 lane is enough. I was talking about the quality. CMDA should look at the NHAI projects around Kolkata and make a standard. It should look like Rajarhat ex'way with better quality.:)

Not only CMDA but most ( if not all) state development bodies should look at the stark difference between the roads they create and those maintained by NHAI. Well, even if most roads in kolkata are not like rajarhat xway, even something like the Salt lake bypass is also fine.:)

Photo cc Girish @picasaweb

It seems a recent photo.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/IMG_0380.jpg

^^Looks good. Wonder whats the progress on the other side of the road i.e. the Intl convention center...

^^ Yes, I think now New Town xway has finally got superior quality ( on the lines of our national highways) after a few times of relaying of the stretch. The four flyovers that are coming up next year and the construction of the second arterial road which is in progress would complete the picture as far as road development in New Town is concerned.

Regarding 10 lanes of road width, I think EM Bypass needs it and more so if they are going to use two of the lanes for BRTS in the future. EM Bypass is not the same as it was even 1.5-2 years ago. The mushrooming of residential clusters all the way to Garia and beyond as put a lot of strain on the road. So, yes 8-10 lanes + flyovers ( atleast humps) at key junctions are must to ensure a smooth traffic flow

Yap, if you talk about EM Bypass they should definitely make it a 8-10 lane highway with better access/traffic/speed control. Look at the traffic there! Mastic asphalt should be ok. They should go for proper lane marking and a fencing of both sides.

Not only CMDA but most ( if not all) state development bodies should look at the stark difference between the roads they create and those maintained by NHAI. Well, even if most roads in kolkata are not like rajarhat xway, even something like the Salt lake bypass is also fine.:)

Don't know but some roads are really good. Like Dalhausi/CBD/parts of south kolkata etc. If they do lane marking some roads are best quality. But that does not make CMDA experienced in making a highway/ex'way.

Six projects in AA-II (2 kms behind Sunrise Point, Akankha, Hiland Woods)
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/4940/6projectsaaiiqk1.jpg
Sunrise Point. Akankha, Hiland Woods (Left to Right)
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/1569/akankhavf4.jpg
DLF IT Park - 2
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/9465/dlf1td5.jpg
DLF IT Park - 2 : as seen from bridge on Bagjola canal
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/2632/dlf2gv6.jpg
DLF IT Park - 2
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/4830/dlf3eb4.jpg
Delhi Public School in the background
Cardiac Hopital in the front. God knows what is their relation with Ohio. But, they advertise with word 'USA' everywhere. There is no progress here though.
http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/9276/dps1jc4.jpg
Delhi Public School - Newtown
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/9329/dps2jq4.jpg
Ecospace IT Park as seen from Major Arterial Road
http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/4199/ecospace1cv8.jpg
Ecospace IT Park as seen from front (just after crossing bridge on Bagjola canal)
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/6892/ecospace2hb9.jpg
Unitech's International Convention Center (no progress as I mentioned in a previous post)
Four residential complexes of AA-II in the background (ambuja, shrachi, dcl and peerless)
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/3273/gof4my5.jpg
Greenfield Heights from the bridge on Bagjola canal
http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/1140/greenfieldlh3.jpg
Unitech's Infospace IT Park
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/5701/infospace1vt7.jpg
Unitech's Infospace IT Park
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/7559/infospace2xl1.jpg
Synthesis Business Park by Bengal Shrachi
http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/3990/synthesisbusinessparklv0.jpg
Tata Cancer Research Institute
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/429/tatamedicalav2.jpg
Unitech as seen from Major Arterial Road of AA-II
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/1183/unitech1mc7.jpg
Unitech in the background and Rosedale in the front
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/8118/unitech2fi5.jpg
Unitech in the background and Rosedale in the front
http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/7430/unitech3xe8.jpg
Unitech as seen from the bridge on Bagjola canal
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/7435/unitech4ir2.jpg

Wow ! cool update ..

Civitas - That was a wonderful update:cheers: Did you see progress on the second arterial road ?

Awesome images Civitas. Great updates too. Thanks for sharing.. :cheers:

Twin flyovers to ease VIP Rd chaos

Kolkata: If all goes well, this twin flyover flanking VIP Road — from Dum Dum Park over Baguiati and up to Teghoria bus stand — would be a major trump card for CPM in North-24 Parganas, for the 2011 Assembly elections.
On Thursday, ministers Subhas Chakrabarty, Asim Dasgupta, Rekha Goswami, MP Amitava Nandy, Rajarhat MLA Robin Mondol — all CPM leaders from the district — held a meeting at Writers’ Buildings to discuss how quickly the VIP Road flyovers project can be implemented. PWD minister Kshiti Goswami was also present at the meeting. The state government has decided to spend a whopping Rs 150 crore for the project, and has planned to complete it in a record one and a half years.
The twin flyovers — each of them two-lane — will pass over footpaths on either side of VIP Road and be 1.7 km long each. Interestingly, though such a plan has been made, there is still no blueprint for the flyovers and it has not yet reached the drawing board stage.
To complete it quickly, pre-fabricated structures would be constructed and a committee will be formed to monitor its progress. Preparations are on to begin the field work from Friday. Mondol said that there is no question of land acquisition as the land is under PWD.
After the meeting, Dasgupta announced that the state PWD will implement the project, “but it has to be completed very fast — within one and a half years”. The government has decided that no tenders would be floated for the project so that no time is wasted in the initial preparations. Its foundation stone will be laid in January.
The flyovers, planned to ease traffic, will start from Dum Dum Park, and pass over Baguiati crossing and merge with the road at the point near Teghoria bus stand. The Metro Railway extension is proposed to pass through VIP Road from Salt Lake to Keshtopur Canal. According to Dasgupta, the flyovers on both sides of VIP Road will help ease traffic on this stretch.
A convention was held some time ago in this area demanding that the flyovers be built. Now, the ruling CPM is trying to get mileage out of implementing the project. The earlier plan was that Hooghly Rivers Bridge Commissioners (HRBC) would set up the flyovers. But later, the PWD almost “wrested” it from the department.
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/Pc0051900-1.jpg


Times of India

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/21cal5.jpg


Anandabazar

Great updates Civitas.

:cheers:

Nothing !!!! Almost zero progress.

Civitas - That was a wonderful update:cheers: Did you see progress on the second arterial road ?

Work on Kolkata monorail to begin in March
November 21st, 2008 - 8:02 pm ICT by IANS -

Kolkata, Nov 21 (IANS) A city-based firm, Andromeda Technologies, has bagged the order for constructing the first stretch of a monorail in the city, with the work scheduled to begin in March, a top company official said here Friday.”We have got the contract to construct the first 20 km on a build-own-operate basis at an approximate cost of Rs.60 crore (Rs.600 million/$12 mn) per kilometre,” Andromeda chairman P.C. Sen told reporters on the sidelines of the ongoing Biz-Bridge Resurgent East conference, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

The company will start work that will connect Budge Budge to Taratala in southern Kolkata next March, an area not covered by the Metro. “We have got permission from the state transport department as well as the public works department. It will take us two years to complete the project,” he said.

Sen said he hoped that after completion of the first phase, Andromeda would be allotted the 52-km second phase from Taratala to Rajarhat, which is in the eastern part of the city.

The total expense for the first phase will be around Rs.12 billion, to be raised on a 4:1 debt-equity ratio. The company is presently looking for foreign financial partners and hopes to clinch a deal by December.

Maintaining that getting a financial partner will not be difficult despite the current economic situation, Sen said: “During any economic downturn, infrastructure is the only industry that does well. People are usually keen to invest in infrastructure in such times.”

At the outset, the company will source coaches from Germany. But in due course, it plans to get domestic wagon manufacturers to start making monorail coaches. “We have discussed this with Titagarh Wagons and Jessop already,” Sen said.

Three German companies will partner Andromeda; Fernmeldewerk Munchen Aubing will supply signalling equipment, while Derap AG and Helbling Technik will provide knowhow.

Andromeda also has an offer from a private firm in Bangladesh for constructing monorail in that country.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/business/work-on-kolkata-monorail-to-begin-in-march-2_100122003.html

Work on Kolkata monorail to begin in March
November 21st, 2008 - 8:02 pm ICT by IANS -

Kolkata, Nov 21 (IANS) A city-based firm, Andromeda Technologies, has bagged the order for constructing the first stretch of a monorail in the city, with the work scheduled to begin in March, a top company official said here Friday.”We have got the contract to construct the first 20 km on a build-own-operate basis at an approximate cost of Rs.60 crore (Rs.600 million/$12 mn) per kilometre,” Andromeda chairman P.C. Sen told reporters on the sidelines of the ongoing Biz-Bridge Resurgent East conference, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

The company will start work that will connect Budge Budge to Taratala in southern Kolkata next March, an area not covered by the Metro. “We have got permission from the state transport department as well as the public works department. It will take us two years to complete the project,” he said.

Sen said he hoped that after completion of the first phase, Andromeda would be allotted the 52-km second phase from Taratala to Rajarhat, which is in the eastern part of the city.

The total expense for the first phase will be around Rs.12 billion, to be raised on a 4:1 debt-equity ratio. The company is presently looking for foreign financial partners and hopes to clinch a deal by December.

Maintaining that getting a financial partner will not be difficult despite the current economic situation, Sen said: “During any economic downturn, infrastructure is the only industry that does well. People are usually keen to invest in infrastructure in such times.”

At the outset, the company will source coaches from Germany. But in due course, it plans to get domestic wagon manufacturers to start making monorail coaches. “We have discussed this with Titagarh Wagons and Jessop already,” Sen said.

Three German companies will partner Andromeda; Fernmeldewerk Munchen Aubing will supply signalling equipment, while Derap AG and Helbling Technik will provide knowhow.

Andromeda also has an offer from a private firm in Bangladesh for constructing monorail in that country.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/business/work-on-kolkata-monorail-to-begin-in-march-2_100122003.html

^^What the heck? And I suppose this would integrate with the upcoming LRTS ( from Joka and northwards) at Taratola ? If they are building a Taratala to Rajarhat monorail connection what about LRTS ? Or are they confusing this with LRTS?:nuts:

Times of India



Anandabazar

^^Why are they referring to this as twin flyovers? It is just one flyover with two unidirectional arms for north bound and south bound traffic

tower 1

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/4609/tower1diamondbr4.jpg

Tower 2

http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/3213/tower2diamondjj2.jpg

Tower 3

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/160/dsc0135bi2.jpg

Tower 4

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/9550/tower4diamondyi5.jpg


(copyright: Diamondgroup website)

Work on Kolkata monorail to begin in March
November 21st, 2008 - 8:02 pm ICT by IANS -

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/business/work-on-kolkata-monorail-to-begin-in-march-2_100122003.html

^^What the heck? And I suppose this would integrate with the upcoming LRTS ( from Joka and northwards) at Taratola ? If they are building a Taratala to Rajarhat monorail connection what about LRTS ? Or are they confusing this with LRTS?:nuts:

Irrrk!! So, is it the LRTS or a different thing? And why between Budge Budge - Taratola? No land acquisition involved here? Another news.


India’s first monorail to come up in Kolkata

Kolkata-based Andromeda Technologies Pvt Ltd, which is into monorail technologies, is going to set up India’s first monorail in Kolkata. Construction of the 20-km stretch will commence in March 2009 and take two years to complete.

The company has got enquiries from Bangladesh and other parts of India, such as Delhi, Pune, Patna, Bhubaneswar and Guwahati, to start monorails.

“The West Bengal government has given us permission to start a monorail that will cover a stretch of 20 kms from Budge Budge to Taratala. The monorail, which will have four coaches, each with its own electric generator and the capacity to accommodate 150 passengers, will be of hybrid technology,” said Andromeda chairman PC Sen. He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Biz Bridge seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

On the financials, Sen said, “It will involve a cost of around Rs 1,200 crore, out of which the debt component will make up Rs 1,000 crore, from non-resident Indians, and Rs 200 crore the equity component, which is expected by the end of December from a foreign partner.” He declined to divulge details of the debt and equity partners.

Derap AG and Helbing Tecknik AG of Switzerland are the technical partners of Andromeda in this monorail venture. The 20-km stretch could be later extended up to 52 kms, according to Sen.

“To start with, we are using LPG, but we would like it to run on hydrogen gas in the future. There are also plans to put solar cells on the rooftops, but let’s see what happens,” he said.

The first six to 12 coaches of the monorail will come from Germany, where they will be manufactured. After these, coaches will be made indigenously. “We have talked to Titagarh Wagons about the coach manufacturing, and they are ready. We will now approach Texmaco,” Sen said.

He said the government would decide the price of tickets. They could be priced at Rs 1.50 a km.

Monorails run in Europe, Japan, China, Australia and America, among other places.

Recession hits Rajarhat construction projects

Abhishek Law

KOLKATA, Nov. 21: Global recession has taken a heavy toll on the construction business throughout the state, particularly in Rajarhat. Work on new construction projects have slowed down. Flat bookings have also been badly hit. Even Bengal's real estate major, Ambuja Realty, has decided to delay work on its shopping mall project in Haldia ~ City Centre because of global recession.
The Rs 100-crore project over six acres of land in the area has been delayed. The project that was supposed to be completed by 2010 has now been pushed off till 2011. Spread over a total built up area of over 6.5 lakh square feet the project consists of a shopping plaza, fountain plaza, food court, entertainment arena, four screen Cineplex, and office tower. City Centre ~ Haldia is prominently located at Durgachak with Pantaloons as the anchor store, coupled with Reliance Hyper market and a four-screen Inox.
Confirming a delay in completing the project, Mr Harsh Neotia, chairman Ambuja Realty said: “It is true that we have delayed the project and it will now be completed in 2011.”
When asked about the reasons for this delay, Mr Neotia cited global recession as the cause. “We are waiting for better times to launch the project. The project will now be completed around 2011. While work was earlier carried out in three shifts in the area, work is now being carried out in one shift only.”
Another realty major DLF which has already recorded a dip of four per cent in its consolidated net profits for the quarter ended July-September 2008, has been hit by recession.
In fact DLF which is investing a few hundred crore in the real estate sector of West Bengal has failed to start work on one of its much hyped projects ~ Galleria. Work on the Rs 200 crore project on a three acre plot of land in Rajarhat where a shopping mall was supposed to come up is yet to take off even 15 months after the company hired a contractor for carrying out piling and civil engineering work.
A worker of the civil engineering firm engaged at its site, Gannon Dunkerley and Co, said: "Almost 15 months ago DLF hired three piling machines but till now no work has been carried out here. The machines lie unused."
A visit to the site also confirmed the same but DLF officials deny this. They have said that approval for carrying out work is yet to be received because of which the project has not yet started.
Meanwhile, work in DLF's housing project ~ New Town Heights ~ seems to remain unaffected. Spread over an area of 15 acres, New Town Heights will have around 800 flats, a majority of which have already been booked. The project which began in September 2008 is expected to be completed within 36 months failing which the company will pay a compensation of Rs 5 per month per square feet to people who have booked flats there.
Even Unitech, the country's second largest real estate firm, has been hit hard by the present slowdown with its project at Rajarhat, Cascade, facing turbulent times. Construction work for the project spread over a plot of 10 acres was supposed to be carried out in phases. At present sanction for constructing 2,000 of the 4,000 flats has already been received.
Work on the first phase started in 2005 and flats will be handed over by December 2008. However, company officials said though there has been no slowdown in the pace of work or a reduction in price, there indeed has been a slump in bookings.
While, earlier the company was booking 80 flats on an average, the number presently has come down to 60. Like DLF they too have announced a compensation of Rs 5 per square feet per month for their failure to hand-over flats on time. Mr KS Bagchi, managing director, Bengal Peerless, however pointed out that bookings in housing projects of Bengal Peerless have remain unaffected largely because his company is focused on need-based housing.
“People who buy property for speculative and future investment purposes have been hit hard by recession. They have adopted a wait and watch policy for the time being and put their investments on hold. Those who purchase flats for need have remained unperturbed through this phase and their bookings remained unaffected. However, there is some problem in terms of availing finance from banks,” Mr Bagchi added.
Even Mr Neotia, confirmed a slump in resale value of property in Rajarhat. While there has not been any reduction in price by companies, resale prices have come down by almost 10 per cent.“The secondary market has been hit by global recession. There is a shortage of bank finance and this has made investors wait for the present phase to tide over,” he added. At present, flats are being sold at a price varying between Rs 2000-3000 per square feet depending upon the level of completion and its quality of construction, he added.

The Statesman

The new Jubilee bridge /c

photo copyright Samir Sarkar

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/1940/jubileebridgesumisarkarbl0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/7074/jubileebridgesamirsarkaez3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Irrrk!! So, is it the LRTS or a different thing? And why between Budge Budge - Taratola? No land acquisition involved here? Another news.

Without going into a lot of detail -- and of course without giving me credit as an acknowledged expert in mass transit design -- let me just say that Monorail projects are the most inefficient ways to carry a few people according to what I've read so far (last five years as a transit design enthusiast).

Subways or larger elevated railways (like in Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad -- for example) are much more efficient and cheaper to implement (sometimes one third as cheap compared to Monorail) per linear kilometer.

Then there are light rail transit (LRTS) and busways (like in Delhi) which are even cheaper to implement (no rail needed in the latter case and no right-of-way needed in the former) but have smaller passenger payloads compared to Subways or Elevated Rail -- especially at rush hour. The height of transit stupidity of course is MAGLEV -- impractical, trouble-prone and ten or more times more expensive per KM than any type of public transit. There were MAGLEV projects proposed sometime ago for Bangladesh -- which was eventually laughed out of the Bangladesh parliament because of the expense. Monorail will see a similar fate no doubt. People are too informed nowadays to throw away public funds on 'experimental' technology that are already failures in the West.

BTW the two Swiss 'consulting' companies mentioned as 'experts' in that news article seemingly do not have any pedigree in any type of transit design (much less something specialised as Monorail design) according to their websites. Further I've never even heard of these outfits. Smells fishy if you ask me. This is typical of fly-by-night local outfits in the subcontinent trying to prop up their credibility.

The only monorail implemented of any practicality lately are the ones in downtown Kuala Lumpur and Las Vegas -- both of which have already been dubbed failed projects because they're bankrupt because of low ridership. Monorails make little sense in any scenario (even these two downtown transit scenarios) because of high cost of implementation as well as high resulting ticket cost.

Two interesting problems for Monorail -- switches are extremely impractical (see here (http://www.monorails.org/tmspages/switch.html) of them trying to defend this) and seating is quite limited -- has to be placed in the middle of cars (see here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KL_Monorail) in the 'criticisms' section).

And finally for some light humor -- see 'The Simpsons' episode here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marge_vs._the_Monorail) parodying the monorail money-wasters.

I personally thing that a lot of these proposals / tie ups with "phoren" companies is just a scam.

West Bengal needs proper governance to be able to complete simple projects like keeping the BBD water tank neat and clean.

Every project is dogged by delays be it for litigation or incompetent government or agitating opposition.

They have not been able to complete construction of the Metro Rail extension for ages (litigation and lethargy).

I think the West Bengal Government needs to come out of such strange schemes like flying gondolas over the Hooghly (okay that was a Subhash Chakroborty foot in the mouth scheme).

Planning for the long term is good, but thinking about budgetary allowances and competency in governance and management is also important. There has been a rash of such monorail, light rail, elevated ring road project proposals announced through the media. Then there is the Howrah airport proposal. It seems our babus and ministers are proposing proposals at the drop of a hat.

I don't know if the monorail proposal will be any help.

But there are so many things that are there that can be improved:

There is a such a vast railway network which remains unutilized and poorly managed. Yes, that may be under the central government which is equally incompetent (same kind of babus and ministers there).

The rickety Taxis need to be replaced, but the government which also controls the trade unions is too afraid of its own trade union frankensteins.

The killer tin buses need to go. But the government cannot do anything because most buses are owned by trade union leaders and political party leaders and huge funds flow in to the political parties.

Traffic discipline cannot be enforced because the police have no will or are more busy collecting bribes from truck drivers.

Highways cannot be expanded because elite leftists and opposition parties don't want improved road connections. And anyway every road gets washed away by the season's first rains. So much for Sitaram Yechury and Prakash Karat jumping up and down in Delhi talking of corruption. These jokers cannot control corruption in West Bengal and they act like Gandhis in Delhi.

Milon Mela Trade fair complex

photo copyright Luis

http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/9932/tradefairgroundsmilonmeap7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Google Earth view

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/5205/milonmelatradefairrs9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I personally thing that a lot of these proposals / tie ups with "phoren" companies is just a scam.

West Bengal needs proper governance to be able to complete simple projects like keeping the BBD water tank neat and clean.

Every project is dogged by delays be it for litigation or incompetent government or agitating opposition.

They have not been able to complete construction of the Metro Rail extension for ages (litigation and lethargy).

I think the West Bengal Government needs to come out of such strange schemes like flying gondolas over the Hooghly (okay that was a Subhash Chakroborty foot in the mouth scheme).

Planning for the long term is good, but thinking about budgetary allowances and competency in governance and management is also important. There has been a rash of such monorail, light rail, elevated ring road project proposals announced through the media. Then there is the Howrah airport proposal. It seems our babus and ministers are proposing proposals at the drop of a hat.

I don't know if the monorail proposal will be any help.

But there are so many things that are there that can be improved:

There is a such a vast railway network which remains unutilized and poorly managed. Yes, that may be under the central government which is equally incompetent (same kind of babus and ministers there).

The rickety Taxis need to be replaced, but the government which also controls the trade unions is too afraid of its own trade union frankensteins.

The killer tin buses need to go. But the government cannot do anything because most buses are owned by trade union leaders and political party leaders and huge funds flow in to the political parties.

Traffic discipline cannot be enforced because the police have no will or are more busy collecting bribes from truck drivers.

Highways cannot be expanded because elite leftists and opposition parties don't want improved road connections. And anyway every road gets washed away by the season's first rains. So much for Sitaram Yechury and Prakash Karat jumping up and down in Delhi talking of corruption. These jokers cannot control corruption in West Bengal and they act like Gandhis in Delhi.

why cant the govt go for a full fledged Metro on all routes..
why have diff techs on diff routes..
just to boast that Calcutta has the most diversified multi modal transport system in India..
also 60 crores per km is not cheap..

:)Milon Mela Trade fair complex

photo copyright Luis

http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/9932/tradefairgroundsmilonmeap7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Google Earth view

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/5205/milonmelatradefairrs9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Good to see some progress on the trade fair grounds. Hope they eventually make it worthy of national standards.

Cultural icons plan Bengal heritage hub (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/Cultural_icons_plan_Bengal_heritage_hub/articleshow/3742894.cms)

KOLKATA: Top city intellectuals have together to form a cultural hub the Kolkata International Foundation for Arts, Literature and Culture which
will come to life by the year-end. And it will have not one, but two campuses.

Writers Sunil Gangopadhyay and Shankha Ghosh and painters Jogen Chowdhury, Ganesh Haloi and Dipali Bhattacharya are among the founding members of KIF. While one wing of the foundation will be housed inside a heritage building located in Belgachia, the other flank will be located off EM Bypass near Kalikapur, where the foundation has bought three bighas of land. KIF members had approached chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for land, which he made available at a subsidized rate.

The heritage building that is in the process of being handed over to the foundation, is the 58-room palatial Dhurjoti Dham at Belgachia, belonging to the Mullicks. The owner of the building, Sailen Mullick has been associated with the foundation for quite some time.

"We will protect both the interior and the exterior of the building which will be a complete repository of the Bengal School of Art, right from the days when painting just meant pattachitras. We hope to exhibit rare paintings by masters like Rabindranath, Abanindranath, Nandalal Bose and Jamini Roy mostly from private collections. Since almost all the top painters of the city are also KIF members they have pledged their own works," said Dipali Bhattacharya, KIF member and head of Government Art College.

The building will have an art museum, galleries, library and reading rooms, archives to document manuscripts, diaries, rare publications, artists' drafts and studies, rural art and traditional handicrafts. Some of the rooms will be converted into facilities for holding seminars and lectures accompanied with power point presentations, slideshows, video screenings and presentations. The centre will also have a little magazine corner to showcase yesteryear efforts and to encourage present day publishers.

"We have to make the centre self sustaining, hence we will rent out some of the facilities," Bhattacharya added.

The building that will come up on EM Bypass will have a multiplex, screening films from all over the country and abroad. Open and indoor theatre facilities will be provided. "Kolkata has a lot to offer in terms of culture. All we need is a composite world-class facility to attract the youth towards the arts, and hence this initiative. Funds will not be an issue because we will even sell our own creations for it," Jogen Chowdhury, managing trustee of KIF, said. Painter Ganesh Haloi said: "We are finalizing the architect who will design the centre on the Bypass. Not only the facilities, even the look of both campuses should be world class."

KIF chairman Sunil Gangopadhyay said: "We are raring to go. Only a few formalities remain and should be completed before the year is out."

Without going into a lot of detail -- and of course without giving me credit as an acknowledged expert in mass transit design -- let me just say that Monorail projects are the most inefficient ways to carry a few people according to what I've read so far (last five years as a transit design enthusiast).

Subways or larger elevated railways (like in Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad -- for example) are much more efficient and cheaper to implement (sometimes one third as cheap compared to Monorail) per linear kilometer.

Then there are light rail transit (LRTS) and busways (like in Delhi) which are even cheaper to implement (no rail needed in the latter case and no right-of-way needed in the former) but have smaller passenger payloads compared to Subways or Elevated Rail -- especially at rush hour. The height of transit stupidity of course is MAGLEV -- impractical, trouble-prone and ten or more times more expensive per KM than any type of public transit. There were MAGLEV projects proposed sometime ago for Bangladesh -- which was eventually laughed out of the Bangladesh parliament because of the expense. Monorail will see a similar fate no doubt. People are too informed nowadays to throw away public funds on 'experimental' technology that are already failures in the West.

BTW the two Swiss 'consulting' companies mentioned as 'experts' in that news article seemingly do not have any pedigree in any type of transit design (much less something specialised as Monorail design) according to their websites. Further I've never even heard of these outfits. Smells fishy if you ask me. This is typical of fly-by-night local outfits in the subcontinent trying to prop up their credibility.

The only monorail implemented of any practicality lately are the ones in downtown Kuala Lumpur and Las Vegas -- both of which have already been dubbed failed projects because they're bankrupt because of low ridership. Monorails make little sense in any scenario (even these two downtown transit scenarios) because of high cost of implementation as well as high resulting ticket cost.

Two interesting problems for Monorail -- switches are extremely impractical (see here (http://www.monorails.org/tmspages/switch.html) of them trying to defend this) and seating is quite limited -- has to be placed in the middle of cars (see here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KL_Monorail) in the 'criticisms' section).

And finally for some light humor -- see 'The Simpsons' episode here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marge_vs._the_Monorail) parodying the monorail money-wasters.

That explains a lot. Don't understand why do they have to go for a "monorail" where there is a very good suburban railway line between Taratola - Budge Budge(The port connectivity line). Taratola - Budge Budge road can also be moderized too. Anyway, I don't think this monorail thing is going to happen.

The new Jubilee bridge /c

photo copyright Samir Sarkar

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/1940/jubileebridgesumisarkarbl0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/7074/jubileebridgesamirsarkaez3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Both photos showing no construction activity. Don't know, how many deadlines it missed. Probably, Laluji is waiting for the next election results.

Both photos showing no construction activity. Don't know, how many deadlines it missed. Probably, Laluji is waiting for the next election results.

Isn't every project in Eastern Railways delayed (could be the same for Indian Railways)? If they say deadline is 2010 then it really is 2015. That an excuse for everyone to say project costs have risen and hence some people can pocket more money.

Source: TOI Epaper


HISTORY REVISITED
Serampore’s Danish past all set for a facelift
Falguni Banerjee | TNN

Serampore: A slice of forgotten history is all set to get a facelift. The two centuries-old Danish governor’s house, now lying in ruins in Serampore, Hooghly, will be renovated and restored to its former glory.
It has been more than 150 years since the Danes left their colony on the other side of the Hooghly. Since then, the building served as government offices. Over the years, it started crumbling. The West Bengal Heritage Commission and the Hooghly district administration recently inked a deal on renovating the building. The process will be completed in the next 10 months and cost approximately Rs 1 crore.
During the heydays of European colonial expansion, the Danes, along with the British, the French and the Dutch, came ashore on the Hooghly. While the British settled on the eastern side of the river, the rest established their colonies in the western flank, most of them in Hooghly district.
“The building has immense historic value. We are happy that the government has realised the importance of the building and agreed to restore it. Repairs will start immediately,” said Gopa Sen, consultant, West Bengal Heritage Commission. The commission is releasing Rs 4 lakh.
The governor house in Serampore was built by Olive Bee, the then governor, in 1803. It took two years to construct the regal building, spread over 12,500 square feet with 10 rooms. The Danish administration spent a princely sum of Rs 9,700 for constructing the mansion. Danish rule extended in Serampore till 1845, when the Danes left after selling off their colony to the
British for Rs 12 lakh.
Even after Independence, the building continued to be in use. The vacant areas were utilised and the building is now within the Serampore court premises. Till about a decade back, the Serampore SDO’s office ran from the governor’s house. But with no repair work, the building gradually wore down and started crumbling.
Eight years back, the state PWD declared the building abandoned. The SDO office was shifted to an adjacent building. The only office that continued was the court inspector’s, which finally moved out a year ago.
“We were trying to get funds to start the repair works. The building is associated with the history of Serampore, and we couldn’t let it go to ruin. The first phase of the repair will be completed in six months. The second phase will take another four months. We want the building to look exactly the same as it looked when it was built,” said Sasim Barai, Serampore SDO.

Source: TOI EPaper


City to get new theatre centre
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata: A year ago chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s classification of ‘us and them’ had alienated a vast section of the intelligentsia. On Sunday, while inaugurating the 8th Natyamela, Bhattacharjee clarified that no such distinction existed in the cultural sphere.
“The government cannot decide what colour a cultural group chooses for itself. There is no fatwa from the government on cultural matters. We believe in cultural pluralism. All groups are welcome,” said Bhattacharjee, addressing theatre enthusiasts at Rabindra Sadan.
Veteran theatre personality Sova Sen, too, touched upon the divide that has hit Bengali intelligentsia for almost two years now. “Last year, many people had left us. Some of them have come back. I believe that others will also rejoin us,” Sen said.
Bhattacharjee’s play Poka will be performed during the week-long festival that will have 95 groups performing from the state and elsewhere.
For the beleaguered theatre activists who have been crying hoarse for a drama centre, there was some good news. “National School of Drama (NSD) is going to open a centre here. We are building a cultural complex at Rawdon Square where three auditoriums will come up. This is going to take some time. If they are in a hurry we will offer NSD the renovated Minerva theatre, where they can function till Rawdon square complex is ready,” Bhattacharjee said.
The state government has also planned a theatre centre of its own at Minerva theatre, which will have an archive and library for theatre researchers. The state government has set up a committee for establishing the centre at Minerva theatre.

Isn't every project in Eastern Railways delayed (could be the same for Indian Railways)? If they say deadline is 2010 then it really is 2015. That an excuse for everyone to say project costs have risen and hence some people can pocket more money.

For any delay they will find one excuse "land acquisition". That’s what they are explaining for NS metro extension. But what about this project? Do they have to acquire land on middle of the river? From the last two years I see those few pillars on both sides of the river. I fear they will change the proposed harbor bridge style steel structure design(?) and make it an ordinary river bridge. Probably thats what we deserve..

Maheshtala Football Stadium u/c. A 20000 seat modern football stadium/academy/sports complex. To become "Indian Football School". A PPP project.
Sports complex name: "Diego Armando Maradona Sports Complex". :tongue3:

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/24south2.jpg

Anandabazar

Maheshtala Football Stadium u/c. A 20000 seat modern football stadium/academy/sports complex. To become "Indian Football School". A PPP project.
Sports complex name: "Diego Armando Maradona Sports Complex". :tongue3:

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/24south2.jpg

Anandabazar

Hey, thats good news.:) Mahestala and beyond seems to be seeing a lot of development. The Eden city, Batanagar township etc are all set to develop the region. Hope the 12 km flyover materializes soon, else one can foresee greater chaos on the already congested trunk road.

For any delay they will find one excuse "land acquisition".


And TOI will mention Nandigram and Singur like a parrot.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/Ad0030509.png

Times of India

Ambani institute: Govt may ignore panel suggestions

Ajanta Chakraborty

Kolkata: The Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government is apparently in no mood to follow the recommendations made by the standing committee on education in setting up the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology (DAIICT) at Nadia’s Haringhata.
The Bill preceding the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology Act, 2008 for granting the institute a university status will be discussed in the state Assembly on Tuesday. Even after tabling the Bill in the last Assembly session, the standing committee has now made certain proposals that were not included in the Bill.
The step is being seen as a fresh obstacle in the way of the project for which an MoU was signed in 2006. The Dhirubhai Ambani Memorial Trust (DAMT), run by Anil Ambani, chairman of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), wrote to the chief minister on November 17, expressing anguish over the off-the-cuff proposals. These included increasing 5% of seats reserved for poor to 10% and including two MLAs in the board of governors.
The Ambanis have flatly refused the amendment proposal to the Bill. The chief minister, said an official, has taken immediate cognizance of their letter and has reportedly said that the Bill should have been passed in its earlier version. An official said: “The government has the right to reject the standing committee’s recommendations. In fact, it was the chief minister, who had convinced Anil Ambani to increase the reserved seats from 2% to 5%.”
The official said the government will make sure that no further obstacles erupt and the recommendations of the Bill are enacted smoothly so that the 50 acres needed for the campus could be handed over. Without the Act, the project would attract restrictions under the Urban Land Ceiling Act.
Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim, though, wasn’t prepared to reveal whether the Bill would be passed without the amendments recommended by the standing committee. “The government could always withdraw the Bill if it doesn’t want to follow the recommendations made by the standing committee,” he said on Monday.

Times of India

Hey, thats good news.:) Mahestala and beyond seems to be seeing a lot of development. The Eden city, Batanagar township etc are all set to develop the region. Hope the 12 km flyover materializes soon, else one can foresee greater chaos on the already congested trunk road.

There is a high chance that Maradona would lay the foundation stone for the complex. Is so, that will be interesting.. :)


..
Maradona would lay the foundation stone for a sports complex, which will be named after him, on 6 December morning at Mahestala and in the afternoon he would be present at Salt Lake stadium for his felicitation programme. The state would be give a golden boot, a ball and a golden replica of Salt Lake stadium to the football legend. On 7 December, Maradona might spend some time with budding footballers as he has expressed his willingness for this. Later in the night, a party would be thrown in the honour of the football legend before he leaves the city.


Statesman News Service

Kolkata Metro to get 7-km extension
Business Standard, Wednesday, Nov 26, 2008

Bs Reporter / New Delhi November 26, 2008, 0:34 IST

India’s first underground Metro rail in Kolkata is likely to get another route extension as Railway Minister Lalu Prasad has shown interest for a new 7 km link after much persuasion from the CPI(M).

The proposed link will join the metro rail’s northern terminal station Dumdum with Dakhineshwar at the banks of river Hoogly. Last Friday, at a meeting at the Rail Bhawan here, Prasad asked the Railway Board to go ahead with the plan. Railway Board Chairman K C Jena has ordered a feasibility study for the project.

The work on the extension of the southern part of the Kolkata Metro is on, while a new east-west line was approved by the Union cabinet recently. The proposed extension in the north will serve as a nodal point for many passengers from the neighbouring district.

The total cost of the proposed extension will be Rs 526 crore. The state government has already expressed its willingness to bear 50 per cent of this cost. “We are expecting a formal announcement during the supplementary budget in the coming Parliament session in December,” says Basudeb Acharia, chairman of the Parliamentary standing committee on the railways.

The Union cabinet recently approved an underwater link on the east-west route of the Kolkata Metro to help passengers from the neighbouring district of Howrah to avail metro rail facilities.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/kolkata-metro-to-get-7-km-extension/00/36/341390/

Rs 400cr plan to decongest Bypass (http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081126/jsp/calcutta/story_10123458.jsp)

A flyover, a railway overbridge and a service road are part of a Rs 400-crore plan to decongest the EM Bypass.

The project cost will be shared by the Centre-backed Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and the state government.

The Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) will build a flyover from the Beleghata intersection to Captain’s Bheri on the EM Bypass, over the Rajarhat flyover at the Chingrihata intersection. The 16-metre flyover, to cost about Rs 70 crore, will be built on a single pier.

“The proposed flyover will have a double-lane carriageway. It will put an end to the regular traffic snarls at the Chingrihata intersection. The stretch is narrower than the road on both sides and is thus a bottleneck,” said Debdas Bhattacharya, the director-general of the CMDA’s traffic and transportation department.

Officers at Beleghata Traffic Guard explained to the Lalbazar traffic brass how vehicles are forced to slow down at the intersection. A recent survey on the points of traffic congestion on the Bypass confirmed the observations. It was decided that the Chingrihata stretch of the Bypass had to be either widened or a flyover built over it.

The CMDA will also build a second railway overbridge along the existing Bagha Jatin overbridge to cater to the demand for road space at this junction.

“There has been a real estate boom in the area and more flat-owners are opting for cars. Hence it is necessary to offer space on the Bagha Jatin overbridge. The 325-metre long overbridge, parallel to the existing one, will be built for around Rs 200 crore,” said a CMDA engineer.

A service road from Hiland Park to Patuli along the western edge of the Bypass will be built. The aim is to ensure that vehicles leaving and entering highrise buildings and shopping malls on the Bypass do not use the main thoroughfare.

“The urban planners should have realised the importance of service roads along the EM Bypass. After two decades of the Bypass’s existence, only a few stretches have proper service roads,” said a senior architect of the urban development department.

Ambani institute Bill passed after debate (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/Ambani_institute_Bill_passed_after_debate/articleshow/3757504.cms)

26 Nov 2008, 0129 hrs IST

KOLKATA: The Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology Bill, 2008, was passed in the Assembly on Tuesday after much
debate and bargaining between the state authorities and representatives of the institute.

Gandhi Sarkar, senior vice-president, ADAG group, told TOI, "We are happy that the Bill has been passed and the project can be implemented."

The subjects committee of the Assembly had recommended 10% reservation for poor and meritorious students but the Ambanis have agreed to only 5%. The institute did not accept the suggestion that two Assembly members be included in the board of directors either.

State higher education minister Sudarshan Roychowdhury said the government did not have the power to control policies of private universities. He added that even a 5% reservation was an achievement as in the Gandhinagar institute, only five such seats were reserved.

Seeing the condition in Chhattisgarh, where many private universities were "just badly run shops", the government had earlier opposed the proposal. It accepted that after studying the Gandhinagar institute.

Trinamool MLA Sobhandeb Chatterjee and SUCI member Debaprasad Sarkar said this move will start commercialization of education in the state.

Bankim Ghosh, minister of state for health and MLA of Haringhata where the institute will come up, said: "Urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya has assured me of including more moujas in the campus."

Govt to set up land bank to woo IT majors
26 Nov 2008, 0126 hrs IST, Subhro Niyogi, TNN

KOLKATA: The IT department has decided to set up a land bank before wooing more companies to the state. This is aimed at avoiding a repeat of
the land crisis that has held up investments by IT majors Infosys, Satyam and Wipro.

The proposal had earlier been mooted by Nasscom, the IT sector umbrella organisation, following an A T Kearney report that highlighted steps to make Kolkata a more attractive destination.

"As of now, the IT department does not have any land to allot to IT companies. As land acquisition takes time, it leads to project delays. We are now thinking in terms of a land bank to make plots readily available," Webel deputy general manager Swarup Roy explained.

He and state IT officials discussed the issue with the representatives of Nasscom and Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) on Monday. Emerging from the meeting, Nasscom regional manager (east) Suparno Moitra said government officials were extremely proactive. IT joint secretary Utpal Bhattacharya, deputy secretary Mriganka Shekhar Kar and STPI joint director Manjit Nayak were among the others who attended the meeting.

"They (IT officials) acknowledged that Kolkata's claim as a leading IT destination will get a shot in the arm if the government can provide the current status on the land bank and showcase built-up IT space that is already available and the ones that are being developed," Moitra said.

With all plots at Sector V exhausted and IT firms Infosys and Wipro unwilling to shell out Rs 7 crore an acre for space in New Town, the IT department has had to join hands with private firm Vedic Realty to set up an IT facility adjoining New Town. Next month, the government plans to hand 90 acre each to Infosys and Wipro at IT Links. The department is now trying to get 25 acre for Satyam in neighbouring Jagadishpur mouja.

While creating the land bank is a long-drawn process, Nasscom has requested government officials to make available the quantum of plug-and-play IT space that is ready for use and under construction so that information can be disseminated among players seeking to reduce operational costs.

Acclaris managing director Kalyan Kar feels the current meltdown can be turned into a positive business opportunity if Kolkata pitches itself as a less expensive IT destination than Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune or Gurgaon.

"If we can highlight the fact that Kolkata is 25-30% less expensive than other metros while offering the same quality of service, the state can attract a lot of companies," he said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/Govt_to_set_up_land_bank_to_woo_IT_majors/articleshow/3757494.cms

Hi Friends!

Thank you all for posting valuable information in this thread. 'm watching this thread for quite a some time and its turned really helpful to me.

Can any one put some light on the proposed IT hub in Jagadishpur mouza, New Town as well as present status of six residential projects at that area (Sunrise Symphony, Hiland Willows, BPHDL- Anahita, BDCL- malancha, Shelter - Tinkanya, Sunny Fort) ?


Thanks Again.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff132/SarafIndian/Ad0051004.png

Times of India

why cant the govt go for a full fledged Metro on all routes..
why have diff techs on diff routes..
just to boast that Calcutta has the most diversified multi modal transport system in India..
also 60 crores per km is not cheap..

^^ - Heavy rail - which is what we call Metro - is much more expensive - upto Rs 300 Crores/Km for underground routes. It only becomes viable at very high ridership levels and can be used for the densest traffic corridors. Monorail and LRTS/BRTS is more viable in lower density areas such as the suburbs of major cities or in Tier II cities.

One reason that the KL monorail may have lower than anticipated ridership is that it is still more of a stand-alone system, whereas monorail or any mass transit system must be part of an integrated transport network which can provide "last mile" connectivity to its riders.

~ My $ 0.02

Thanks Ajay, Nice stastics to know and gain knowledge.

These are bound to happen in troubled times of the global economy. Among the worst hit are the fresh grads...

Stir after Wipro asks techies to join BPO (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/Stir_after_Wipro_asks_techies_to_join_BPO/articleshow/3774585.cms)

KOLKATA: They were aware of the slowdown, but none thought it would sting so soon. Assured employment as project engineers by Wipro in 2007, these budding engineers didn't know their careers would go into free fall.
Hundreds of students from different engineering colleges staged a dharna in front of the Wipro SEZ area in Sector V on Saturday morning after the company asked them to join its BPO shop at half the salary they had been offered initially. At the dharna, the students were waving copies of the company's revised letter, which they got a few days ago.

"As project engineers, we are supposed to get Rs2.75-3.25 lakh a year, while as a BPO employee, this has been reduced to Rs1.2-1.6 lakh annually. We will be demoted to a BPO staffer. We're aware of the meltdown, but are not willing to compromise on job profile," said Gourab Saha, from JIS Engineering College, Kalyani.

According to students, the company had given them offer letters to join as project engineers after campus interviews in 2007. They were promised jobs in February 2009 after they passed out of college.

In a letter to the selected candidates on November 25, Wipro management invited them to join the BPO division in Kolkata. "You would be aware of the current economic environment across all industries including the IT sector. IT analysts and experts claim this scenario is likely to prevail for a while. We have looked at various options to absorb you without much delay," the letter says. The nature of job is that of a "technical helpdesk engineer" instead of "project engineer" as promised earlier.

After getting the letter, confused students rushed to the Wipro office on Thursday to meet HR officials. The meeting was futile. Company officials allegedly took a take-it-or-leave -it stand and said they were not going to consider the cases of those unwilling to join the BPO.

Students then staged the dharna in front of Wipro office on Saturday expecting the Wipro management to take a flexible stand. Many among the agitators were ready to work for a reduced salary, but not in the BPO division. "We told HR that we are ready to accept a reduced pay structure. But the company should give us the designation offered initially," pleaded Saikat Chakravorty, a student from Institute of Technology and Marine Engineering.

The agitators are ready to wait another six months. They pleaded with the company not to cancel their appointments if they did not join the BPO. "At present, it is mandatory to join the BPO, otherwise they will strike off our names. During Saturday's meeting, we told them we were willing to wait a few months to join as engineers," said Sayantan Mukherjee, a student from Bengal Institute of Technology, who went to talk to Sonal Bharadwaj, regional HR head of Wipro. "Bharadwaj gave us a patient hearing but didn't promise anything. We've been asked to get in touch with HR by December 2," said Sayantan.

Wipro Technologies vice-president Pradeep Bahirwani said: "Due to current business scenario we estimate delays in joining dates of some batches of recruits. We are providing them an option of a role in our BPO division. The objective is to let engineering graduates commence work without delay."

^^Like it or not, ultimately the business owners have to run their business and would want to maximize profit. On the other hand the employees have to earn their salary too. So a healthy balance needs to be established at some level. Whether the notice given by Wirpo to the selected candidates is right or wrong is a debatable question. But what is lacking in this case is implementation at policy level details about the rights of employees and rights of employers. An offer of employment should come with some commitments - a simple clause "subject to company discretion" and mindless implementation of the same is not great. If a company is so open to fire/semi-fire people before getting them onboard, then our universities too need to take a bold step and let students appear in interview for every company that they want to appear for - which is not the case today.

^^Like it or not, ultimately the business owners have to run their business and would want to maximize profit. On the other hand the employees have to earn their salary too. So a healthy balance needs to be established at some level. Whether the notice given by Wirpo to the selected candidates is right or wrong is a debatable question. But what is lacking in this case is implementation at policy level details about the rights of employees and rights of employers. An offer of employment should come with some commitments - a simple clause "subject to company discretion" and mindless implementation of the same is not great. If a company is so open to fire/semi-fire people before getting them onboard, then our universities too need to take a bold step and let students appear in interview for every company that they want to appear for - which is not the case today.

^^Yes, there needs to be a balance in expectations with regards to both the employer and employee. In this case it looks as though the tech grads do not want to associate the BPO tag at the start of their careers. "Subject to conditions clauses " must definitely be there for a company as mature as Wipro and the fresh grads must take into account the dependency of jobs, salaries etc on the volatility of the global economy. Just like experienced folks they too are going thru hard times and I sympathize with that.

I remember one company in my campus asking for an important slot and finally not taking anyone; they were banned from appearing in campus in the subsequent year. However in today's situation the college/university cannot afford to take such a stance

I think Wipro is playing the same game with the fresher engineers as Jet Airways did with the cabin crew a few months back. As far as I guess, they will take most of the engineers in the engg department only. The entire drama of asking them to join in the BPO team is to have them smoothly agree to a proposal of joining at a reduced salary ( than the one promised in the offer letter) in the engineering job.
A few months ago Jet airways did the same story. At first they did a mass retrenchment and then took back all the employees at a reduced salary.
The employees start thinking that "okk.... at least for the time being my job is there".
One of the biggest tragedies in the IT scenario of West Bengal is that unlike Bangalore, hyderabad , very less number of product companies are present.
These service companies (TCS, Wipro, CTS, Tech Mahindra, IBM, PwC, Genpact etc) not only pay much lesser salaries but also make the employees dance at their fingertips.

Back in the 2001-2002 downturn, Wipro and many other companies did the same thing. In fact my brother and a cousin, who were selected through campus interviews, had to go through the same phase. Luckily both were doing their summer training in different companies which extended their internships. My brother even went to Bangalore and met one of the Wipro HR managers there and though she was very professional, they had no concrete plans except that they would employ them later. Things took a different turn for both of them after the Wipro setback. My brother went on to work for a space agency and my cousin went on to work in mapping ocean mineral wealth. Wipro did offer jobs to everyone in the next six months and some of my brother's friends are happily working in Wipro.

So these guys should have hope despite the frustrating situation. The economy will improve and there may be many alternative opportunities for them.

I think Wipro is playing the same game with the fresher engineers as Jet Airways did with the cabin crew a few months back. As far as I guess, they will take most of the engineers in the engg department only. The entire drama of asking them to join in the BPO team is to have them smoothly agree to a proposal of joining at a reduced salary ( than the one promised in the offer letter) in the engineering job.
A few months ago Jet airways did the same story. At first they did a mass retrenchment and then took back all the employees at a reduced salary.
The employees start thinking that "okk.... at least for the time being my job is there".
One of the biggest tragedies in the IT scenario of West Bengal is that unlike Bangalore, hyderabad , very less number of product companies are present.
These service companies (TCS, Wipro, CTS, Tech Mahindra, IBM, PwC, Genpact etc) not only pay much lesser salaries but also make the employees dance at their fingertips.


^^In today's volatile economy, the danger of joining at a low salary is that it may take years to get appropriate raises to one's satisfcation levels. Because of the job market one may think twice before putting down papers and frustration builds up within. In this case 50% less salary is quite a setback for the grads. Wipro is a conservative company when it comes to salaries and hires & fires and the IT business never had layoffs until now and I think they are trying to ensure that they do not layoff until it is absolutely necessary in the future. So we can expect much reduced hiring atleast for the next 1-1.5 years.

It is true that the IT scenario here is not as robust as our southern states and it becomes difficult in times of meltdown such as this. Among the service companies you mentioned Cognizant, IBM & PWC can be good paymasters ( if you are a lateral and have good negotiating ability) while others aren't.

Back in the 2001-2002 downturn, Wipro and many other companies did the same thing. In fact my brother and a cousin, who were selected through campus interviews, had to go through the same phase. Luckily both were doing their summer training in different companies which extended their internships. My brother even went to Bangalore and met one of the Wipro HR managers there and though she was very professional, they had no concrete plans except that they would employ them later. Things took a different turn for both of them after the Wipro setback. My brother went on to work for a space agency and my cousin went on to work in mapping ocean mineral wealth. Wipro did offer jobs to everyone in the next six months and some of my brother's friends are happily working in Wipro.

So these guys should have hope despite the frustrating situation. The economy will improve and there may be many alternative opportunities for them.

Looking back your bro & cousin must be glad not to be part of the IT industry:). Not sure how many people are actually happy to be working in the IT industry atleast in India. I have known people who have given up better quality lesser paying engineering jobs to join lesser quality higher paying IT jobs. Anyway that is a different discussion altogether...

Looking back your bro & cousin must be glad not to be part of the IT industry:). Not sure how many people are actually happy to be working in the IT industry atleast in India. I have known people who have given up better quality lesser paying engineering jobs to join lesser quality higher paying IT jobs. Anyway that is a different discussion altogether...

Well I think they were lucky because the downturn didn't last long at that time.

This time it looks different and could last for a longer time.

It has been observed that core engineering students were shifting to IT and management because of better pay and work environment. But they always had an alternative to work in core engineering. This time though even core engineering may be affected as real estate is down, factory construction may have slowed down and so on.

Let's hope that this downturn ends quicly and things turn better.

Well I think they were lucky because the downturn didn't last long at that time.

This time it looks different and could last for a longer time.

It has been observed that core engineering students were shifting to IT and management because of better pay and work environment. But they always had an alternative to work in core engineering. This time though even core engineering may be affected as real estate is down, factory construction may have slowed down and so on.

Let's hope that this downturn ends quicly and things turn better.

it was the IT bubble that got bust at that point in time..
this time its the whole economy including financial, mfg, IT etc in a mess..
the situation's pretty grave..
and now its the tourism thats gonna take a hit following what happened in Mumbai and diff nations giving travel advisories subsequently..
theres already a talk in town about the loss in FDI inflow..
thats sad :ohno:

Metro Cash & Carry opens first store in Kolkata (Lead) (http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/business/metro-cash-carry-opens-first-store-in-kolkata-lead_100126753.html)

December 3rd, 2008 - 7:04 pm ICT by IANS -

Kolkata, Dec 3 (IANS) Metro Cash & Carry, the Indian arm of German wholesaler Metro AG, Wednesday opened its first outlet here, nearly two months after the company was granted licence to sell farm commodities and other food items in West Bengal. “We have invested Rs.140 crore (Rs.1.4 billion) in the region and also created 350 new jobs for local citizens,” Metro Cash & Carry India managing director Martin Dlouhy told reporters here.

The company faced tough times earlier as Forward Bloc, a partner in the state’s Left Front government, which controls agriculture and agricultural marketing departments, opposed the renewal of the licence.

None of the Forward Bloc members turned up for the inaugural ceremony though the company said it had invited them.

Asked abouit this, Forward Bloc leader and Agriculture Marketing Board chairman Naren Chatterjee told IANS: “We usually don’t go for any private company’s ceremony. There is no other reason apart from this for not attending the inauguration.”

Including the 100,000-square-feet Kolkata store, the German wholesale major has five stores in India - two in Bangalore, one each in Hyderabad and Mumbai.

Cricket star Sourav Ganguly and state Sundarbans Affairs Minister Kanti Ganguly inaugurated the outlet.

“I am confident that our unique model will catalyse the entrepreneurial attitude of Bengalis by providing a one-stop solution for purchase, improvements in assortments and high quality products to our professional customers,” Dlouhy said.

The minimum level of purchase from this store should be Rs.1,000, a company source confirmed.

The DPR for the 12-km two-lane flyover connecting Budge Budge to Taratala in Kolkata, West Bengal, being prepared by IL&FS, is likely to be delayed by a month and will now be submitted by end of December. The flyover, once constructed, will decongest the route to the airport, a PWD official told Projectmonitor.

The Rs 600-crore project will be executed on PPP basis under BOT model. The state government will fund one-third of the cost and the rest will be borne by private players who will form a consortium.

Real estate developers like Eden Group and United Credit Belani Properties have evinced interest in the project that will be executed in phases. Phase-I will connect Budge Budge and Jinjira bazaar, the official said.

Meanwhile, the government is planning a mass transit system on the Japanese model of elevated tram tracks below the flyovers. The PWD is working on the proposal. The monorail project will connect Budge Budge in phase-I and extend from Joka to Ranikunthi and then to Rajarhat vis EM Bypass in phase-II. The Centre has approved the project. CES is designing it. "We have submitted the plan to the government and are awaiting the approval. The project is estimated to cost Rs 4,000 crore," a senior CES official said.

Source: http://www.projectsmonitor.com/detailnews.asp?newsid=17467&secid=41

The Dhirubhai Ambani Memorial Trust will invest around Rs 150 crore for setting up Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology in West Bengal. The state government has approved the project and the institute will come up on 60 acres of land near Haringhata in Kolkata.

The institute, part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, will be modelled on the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology in Gandhinagar of Gujarat. The institute will offer education, training and research facilities in information and communication technology. The project will be set up in a year from the date of possession of land.

Source: http://www.projectsmonitor.com/detailnews.asp?newsid=17486&secid=28

Khub bhalo mach hobe 'dada'!! :lol:

Metro cash & carry's opening ceremony
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Photo source: Anandabazar

Photo source: http://www.daylife.com/

newly opened Metro cash-and-carry outlet in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata December 3, 2008. Germany's Metro Cash and Carry opened its first wholesale centre in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal on Wednesday.

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The Telegraph

The DPR for the 12-km two-lane flyover connecting Budge Budge to Taratala in Kolkata, West Bengal, being prepared by IL&FS, is likely to be delayed by a month and will now be submitted by end of December. The flyover, once constructed, will decongest the route to the airport, a PWD official told Projectmonitor.



Feel a little curious - how does it decongest "the route to airport"? As per my estimates, the airport is 35 odd km far even from Taratala and another 10-12 km further away from Budge Budge!

Feel a little curious - how does it decongest "the route to airport"? As per my estimates, the airport is 35 odd km far even from Taratala and another 10-12 km further away from Budge Budge!

I think they want to say a smooth ride between Budge Budge and airport. The flyover idea is good if they can. Alternative is to covert the existing road to 4-lane. Not sure if that is possible or not.

Beside the newly built Metro Cash n Carry Store in Mukundapur, EM Byepass, there is a large parcel of empty land . What I had heard a month back ( while I was in town during Durga Puja) that Raheja ( of Shoppers Stop fame) had a talk with Govt for a big store beside the Metro Cash N Carry and the rest of the land was being planned to be handed over to Bengal Peerless for the construction of an IT Park. Does anybody has any update on this???

Hi... I am a new member in this forum. I would like to thank everyone here (especially SarafIndian) for the excellent work they are doing. I went through most of the threads and they are very informative...Excellent work guys..

I will try to contribute from my side as well...