Kolkata: The state government has taken a move to set up an industrial park exclusively for building materials manufacturing industry in North Bengal.
The project has been mulled by the Mamata Banerjee government to ensure further improvement in economic activities in the northern part of the state. West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) is the nodal agency for the same.
Vandana Yadav, managing director of WBIDC, said: "Talks have been initiated with Chamber of Commerce in this regard. Finalisation of location is a key issue. So the subsequent steps in this regard will be taken following their suggestions."
Sources said there are two to three feasible locations in North Bengal, based on the availability of land where the project may come up. The Chamber of Commerce will be taking a final call on the location of setting up the park following discussions with the WBIDC. "The location will be selected based on road connectivity and certain other factors. Proper road connectivity is an important factor that the stakeholders give utmost importance to," said an official adding that with the initiative to set up an exclusive park for building materials manufacturing units, efforts are on to make the state self-dependent. This comes as 10 per cent of the state's GDP is contributed by the real estate sector in which more than 15,000 units get developed every year and around 40 lakh people are involved.
The WBIDC will be developing the infrastructure of the park while the Chamber of Commerce will play a pivotal role in roping in entrepreneurs to set up units of building materials manufacturing industries. The same model was followed for the park that has already been developed by the WBIDC at Panagarh in West Burdwan.
The proposal to set up such a park in North Bengal was floated by state Industry minister Amit Mitra a few days ago in a virtual conference. Subsequently, the WBIDC started working on various aspects of the project.
With setting up of the park in North Bengal, the economy of the area will further improve as it will be a market not only for the districts in the northern part of the state but also for the North-Eastern states.