100% refund of stamp duty, free power substation for pvt industrial parks

KOLKATA: The state government is all set to offer various facilities for encouraging private players to set up industrial parks on plots measuring five acres and above.The state Cabinet in September had taken the decision of allowing industrial parks on land measuring 5 acres and above in areas under Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA) reducing the land ceiling drastically from 20 acres.

"We will soon come up with the Expression of Interest (EOI) regarding the matter. The main aim is to facilitate setting up industrial parks in KMA where availability of a patch of land measuring 20 acres and above has been a difficult proposition," a senior official of state MSME department said.

The official said the incentive offered by the state government will now be in three instalments and not one time as in the previous scheme where the cashback was provided after the entire land was developed and the process of land sale was initiated. Now, incentives will be offered first when mutation, conversion and boundary wall of the land is done, secondly, when the road, drainage, electricity infrastructure is completed and the last instalment when the selling of land is initiated.

In Bengal investors setting up private industrial parks can get 100 per cent reimbursement of stamp duty, get a power substation installed free-of-cost and a road to be built to connect with the nearest major roads. Investors would also get cashback upto Rs 2 crore on parks set up on land between 20 to 39 acres.

"Similar incentives will be there for parks with land ceilings between 5 to 20 acres too," the official added. Previously 60 per cent of the industrial park needed to be dedicated to manufacturing but now poultry, fishery, cold storage, warehouse, logistics will be allowed. The state will also allow expansion of private parks and incentive benefits will be available for those located in the adjacent areas of Kolkata. A committee comprising representatives from departments like Fire, Land & Land Reforms, West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) with Managing Director of West Bengal Small Industries Development Corporation as chairman has been constituted for faster clearances. The clearance regarding Consent to Establish of WBPCB has been integrated in the MSME department to fast track the process.

Kolkata and parts of its adjoining districts like Howrah, South and North 24-Parganas and Hooghly come under KMA. The area covers four municipal bodies along with 37 municipalities. There are 38 industrial parks in the state.