Nation’s first ever ‘financial and legal hub’ to come up in New Town

The country’s first ever financial and legal services hub will soon come up on 100 acre of land in the Commercial Business District Zone of New Town.

The financial hub is the fastest growing centre in the country, senior state government officials said. 22 financial institutions have bought plots in the hub, namely State Bank of India, Bank of India, Allahabad Bank, Bank of Baroda, Corporation Bank, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, Syndicate Bank, Karnataka Bank, Union Bank of India, Indian Bank, Andhra Bank, Vijaya Bank, United Bank of India, Shriram Credit, Bandhan Bank, UCO Bank, National Insurance, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, West Bengal Industrial Development Finance Corporation, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and West Bengal Financial Corporation.

Participation has also been invited for strategic investors in an ‘iconic tower’ at the financial and legal services hub by means of reverse e-auctioning. A cluster of financial institutions will be involved in the project. Additional plots are also available.

In addition to the legal hub, a commercial court is also planned to come up at the location. A Bench of the National Green tribunal is already functioning and a business and arbitration centre is in operation for promoting ease of doing business.

The Financial and Legal hub is aimed at attracting prospective investors, who will be participating at the Bengal Global Business Summit, scheduled to be held on January 20 and 21.

Meanwhile, work is going on a war footing to complete eastern India’s largest Biswa Bangla Convention Centre. The centre will be thrown open sometime later this year. Firhad Hakim, state Urban Development minister, had visited the centre to take stock of the construction work and encourage the workers.

The Biswa Banlga Convention Centre is 55m or 18 storeys tall and covers an area of 4.57 lakh square feet. The construction of the centre began following the direction of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The centre houses a mega conference hall, with seating capacity of 3000, and has a state-of-the-art conference facility.

It also boasts of two seminar rooms, each with 376 seats, four banquet rooms and a 100 key hotel as annexe within the same campus.

The convention centre also has a multi-level car parking facility. Bookings have already started for the convention centre.

The Centre is situated close to Eco Park, the most popular tourist destination in the city, and Mother’s Wax Museum. A stretch on the Bagjola canal, situated close to the Convention Centre, is being beautified. The banks have been developed and a floating jetty will be constructed.

New Town is fast coming up as a medical and educational hub, with St. Xavier’s University and Presidency University soon to start construction of their second campuses.