SkyscraperCity Forum banner

KOLKATA | Projects & Construction

Tags
kolkata
112K views 209 replies 46 participants last post by  Sam Earth 
#1 · (Edited)
Kolkata (Calcutta) is India's fourth largest city and third largest urban agglomeration. Kolkata has seen years of stagnation from seventies till late nineties. Interest in the city has picked up since the late nineties and there is a construction boom (at least relative to the earlier period) now. Apartment buildings are rising up all over the city and so are office buildings (not towers though).



One of the biggest projects right now is the construction of a 35 sq km city (to be expanded to 50 sq km) called New Town Kolkata. It's just started to take shape and hopefully it will be a nice place.

Another major project which was put up for bid is a new city in Dankuni within the metropolitan area.

The interest shown by national players like Unitech and DLF and even international biggies like EMAAR in these bidding rounds is something new for the city. What was once a localized market with small time local builders is suddenly seeing the entry of national level players. Developers are trying to rope in international architects (in partnership with local associates) to spruce things up too.

So the future looks interesting.


Here is a rundown of projects in Kolkata (Calcutta).
 
See less See more
1
#29 ·
shaggers_jr said:
But the CBD needs a lot of work. Are any there any plans to revitalise it at all?
I haven't heard of any comprehensive plan to revitalize the two CBDs.

Kolkata has two CBDs

The older one centred around BBD Bag and Strand Road.


This used to be the financial hub of India till things moved to Mumbai. It is still the regional financial centre and also is the government centre.
No highrises have been allowed in this area for some time. Of late the Government has started scouting for funds and private partners to renovate many of the heritage buildings and fix the roads. It's met with some success.

The other CBD is south of Park Street area.

Chowringhee skyline





Behind the Chowringhee skyline ( I stiched up several pics)

<---- scroll if needed --->


Apart from several malls/departmental stores, a couple of hotel renovations there are no major projects here because right now no space for redevelopment is available.

The Government has shifted it's attention to the north eastern part of the city. A CBD has come up around Salt Lake Central Park with several government and private company offices.

The Saltlec section is home to many of the IT buildings.


And beyond that a complete new city called Kolkata New Town (35 + 15 sq kms) is coming up. There is a plan for a CBD area here. Land for several hotels, office parks, convention centre etc has been alloted to big developers. So we will have to see what happens here. A couple of more years will be needed to understand how the New Town will shape up. The whole place looks ripped apart because of the construction going on.

New Town - under construction


shaggers_jr said:
Or are these all IT Parks out in the suburbs
Most of the development is in South Kolkata, Salt Lake sector V, Townships along EM Bypass and Kolkata New Town.

Highrise developments along EM Bypass
 
#31 ·
Yeah it was Chowringhee I was thinking of - I didn't realise there was another CBD. I've never been to Salt Lake but I heard there were big planning problems out there with local protests about a lack of infrastucture.

Anyway.... isn't there a danger that if the Chowringhee old centre isn't revitalised business will simply move out to the suburbs and the centre will die? I'd hate to see that happen. I was really surprised by how pelasent Calcutta was and I kept looking around thinking what great potential it had (actually it reminded me of Melbourne - which shouldn't surprise me because a lot of the big colonial buildings were built at the same time). Does Calcutta have similar problems to Mumbai, such as rent control? I was surprised that there were much fewer encroachments there than I had expected.
 
#32 ·
shaggers_jr said:
Yeah it was Chowringhee I was thinking of - I didn't realise there was another CBD. I've never been to Salt Lake but I heard there were big planning problems out there with local protests about a lack of infrastucture.
I think Salt Lake is pretty well planned. I am not sure about the protest stuff unless of course it is a routine political party protest (of which there are many in protest friendly Kolkata with most protestors not sure what they are protesting against or why) . However Sector V - the commercial area has often been neglected (it has no voters). The companies having offices there had complained of poor maintenance and bad roads and choked drainage (with construction material). Finally the government has chopped off sector V from the rest of the city and made it a new town called Naba Diganta (new Horizon) Industrial township with its own authority. The companies will now have a say in the running of the township and have generally welcomed the move. But it will take a year or so to fix a decade of neglect by the previous municipality which raked in the taxes and pumped it in residential areas.


shaggers_jr said:
Anyway.... isn't there a danger that if the Chowringhee old centre isn't revitalised business will simply move out to the suburbs and the centre will die?
This could happen. If the New Town CBD comes up many companies may shift to that location.

But there are projects like a huge Mall on the Hooghly banks coming 2009, a revamped New Market with an underground section of 200 stores and underground car park opening early 2007, many small and specialized malls with global stores like Marks and Spencers coming in.

shaggers_jr said:
I'd hate to see that happen.
Me too!

shaggers_jr said:
I was really surprised by how pelasent Calcutta was and I kept looking around thinking what great potential it had (actually it reminded me of Melbourne - which shouldn't surprise me because a lot of the big colonial buildings were built at the same time).
Well I am surprised that you found Kolkata pleasant. Most people seem to have strong negative opinions about the city.

I have not been to Melbourne. But I think Kolkata can learn from London. Of course funds is a big issue here. London and Melbourne are rich and Kolkata is poor. But there are many things that don't need a lot of money - like cleaning the city regularly, enforcing litter rules etc.

shaggers_jr said:
Does Calcutta have similar problems to Mumbai, such as rent control? I was surprised that there were much fewer encroachments there than I had expected.
Kolkata also suffers from old and useless laws. Many of these laws were created to protect the poor but they don't do so in reality.
 
#43 ·
will.exe said:
The only exposure ive had to kolkata is through documentaries like "Born to Brothels", so all ive seen is the slums and extreme poverty the city is known for. Its nice to see some projects like this for a change
Actually, downtown Calcutta is a very pelasant colonial town. Sure, they've got some ugly freeways, the buildings are all falling down and it's not uncommon to see something like a dead dog in the middle of the road, but the parks are lovely and the museums are excellent. Bombay used to be the shining star of India but in the last few years it has gotten much worse while Calcutta has gotten a bit better. Calcutta has one of the most undeserved reputations in the world. I have high hopes for its future.
 
#44 ·
will.exe said:
The only exposure ive had to kolkata is through documentaries like "Born to Brothels", so all ive seen is the slums and extreme poverty the city is known for. Its nice to see some projects like this for a change
There is no denial that Kolkata has plenty of slums and poverty. But one has to remember that it is a huge urban agglomeration. Take a look at google earth and you can easily make out the slums (what may be surprising is that it isn't really as much as one usually thinks).
 
#46 ·
27) SP City
New Town
Several blocks of 14 storeys each
Developer: Shapoorji Pallonji
Architect Sabarna (Singapore)
Status: plot development

[A mass housing scheme for lower and middle-income groups spread over 150 acres and being built with a projected cost of Rs 15 billion. It is scheduled to be completed by mid-2010. SP City will have 20,000 apartments.]



A proposed commercial zone with several office blocks is under consideration too

 
#47 ·
Housing schemes such as this are quite common in Asia, and I realise that India has a desperate shortage of housing, but are people not worried that these kind of mass housing projects could turn into the hell holes they became in America and Europe when they were built from the 50s to the 70s? Has there been any kind of debate about the benefits of the massive tower block projects?

 
#48 ·
Suncity said:
There is no denial that Kolkata has plenty of slums and poverty. But one has to remember that it is a huge urban agglomeration. Take a look at google earth and you can easily make out the slums (what may be surprising is that it isn't really as much as one usually thinks).
yay, i love GoogleEarth! Youre right, indeed, kolkata does not look nearly as impoverished from above as i wouldve thought...no more so than any other indian city, places in China, or even Rio.
 
#49 ·
shaggers_jr said:
Housing schemes such as this are quite common in Asia, and I realise that India has a desperate shortage of housing, but are people not worried that these kind of mass housing projects could turn into the hell holes they became in America and Europe when they were built from the 50s to the 70s? Has there been any kind of debate about the benefits of the massive tower block projects?
Yes, there has been a lot of debate in this issue (especially in Mumbai) about mass high rise housing for low income groups. Studies and examples of things not working out in the west have been discussed. But then options are limited in the cities because of lack of land.

4 storey (now 4+ garage level) is a very popular housing format in India and has been tried and tested out. There have been problems of maintenance but other options are more expensive.

In Kolkata they have tried the HIG,MIG, LIG (high income group, middle income, low income) forumla where HIG and MIG apartments subsidize the LIG apartments. SP City will however be the first to have MIG apartments subsidizing LIG apartments. So I guess they have have to have large numbers for the maintenance issue to work out.

If you notice, the LIG apartments will be four storeys only (easier and lower cost of maintenance) while the MIG ones will be highrises. How it works out without the HIG cross subsidy needs to be seen.
 
#50 ·
Well I am thoroughly impressed by all the developments going on. Unfortunately they arent the most original and are out in the suburbs and not in the established downtowns, but its still great for Kolkata!! Hopefully we will get to see more developments in concentrated areas soon, and I do have to say some of those residential towers lok beautiful. What type demographic are buying in these resi towers? Middle-class Indians? Or is there a wide array of prices in the type of developments...ranging from low-class, affordable to higher-class expensive flats?
 
#51 ·
datilguy said:
Well I am thoroughly impressed by all the developments going on.
Thanx

datilguy said:
Unfortunately they arent the most original and are out in the suburbs and not in the established downtowns, but its still great for Kolkata!! Hopefully we will get to see more developments in concentrated areas soon, and I do have to say some of those residential towers lok beautiful.
The fact is that if Kolkata has to develop then it has got to move outwards. Any further development in concentrated areas would need to first demolish existing structures, compensate/rehabilitate the displaced peoples & then rebuild which is a tedious & expensive.

datilguy said:
What type demographic are buying in these resi towers? Middle-class Indians? Or is there a wide array of prices in the type of developments...ranging from low-class, affordable to higher-class expensive flats?
Almost all of these condos are for middle class categorized in Low-Income Group (LIG), Middle-Income Group (MIG), Higher-Income Group (HIG). Rich & Super-Rich in Kolkata prefer to have their Bunglow/apartment on their own piece of land.
 
Top