Govt to assist private players in setting up theme cities

The state government will provide every assistance to private players interested to set up townships.

The state government has proposed construction of six theme townships. A meeting to discuss the matter was held between the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Minister for Urban Development Firhad Hakim on Wednesday.

Mamata Banerjee has given names of the townships. Uttam City is coming up on 86 acre of land at Baruipur.  Agnibina in Asansol is coming up on 59 acre of land while Teesta in Siliguri and Dumurjala in Howrah are coming up on 84 acre and 51 acre of land respectively, while Samriddhi in Kalyani is coming up on 50 acre of land. Gitabitan on 127 acres of land is also coming up in Bolpur.

The state government has framed township policies where the buyers will have to procure the land through e-auction. They will be given one year time to pay the money which can be extended up to two years but in that case they will have to pay interest at the rate of 12 per cent. 

About 25 per cent of the area would have to be kept for those coming from economically challenged backgrounds and in another 25 per cent of the area, economic activities have been proposed as it has been seen in China that people did not move in townships due to lack of economic activities. Around Rs 11,000 crore would be required to set up the townships.

The state government will set up infrastructure up to the periphery. It will also specify an area where the garbage should be dumped. It may be mentioned that Debashis Sen, principal secretary Urban Development department had met some of the key runners of the industry in Mumbai early this year. 

The builders had shown keen interest to take part in setting up the theme cities. Some had shown interest to set up well city in Baruipur. The builders had also liked the township policy which 

was transparent.

The thrust of the state government is development, with transparent administration. Once the builders procure the land, the state government would provide assistance to ensure that clearance from various department were obtained on time.

Mamata Banerjee has asked the ministers to pull up their socks and ensure that the projects were completed in time.