Kolkata West International City

Kolkata West International City is a proposed satellite township development at Salap[1] in Howrah district in the form of a joint-venture between two Indonesian conglomerates - Salim Group, Ciputra Development - and Singapore -based[2] Universal Success Group.[3]

Project

The project was one of the largest foreign direct investments in township projects in India[4] and the first in West Bengal.[5] The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority acquired a 390-acre plot beside the Kona Expressway at Salap[6] and handed it over to the consortium along with sub-leasing rights.[7] It was unveiled by Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, on 15 February 2006 and was expected to comprise about 11,000 apartments (flats/villas) to house nearly 36,000 people.[3]

The first phase of the project was to span across 82 acres with the flats being priced between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 80 lakh.[7] There were further plans to set up dedicated power stations, sports facilities, IT parks, entertainment zones, hospitals and schools.[3] The first 450 units were to be sold over by December 2007 and the entire project, comprising five phases,[8] was expected to be completed and delivered by 2010.[3]

Opposition

An elite population of the city had initially demanded that the word ‘Kolkata’ be dropped from the name, as misleading.[9] There was a barrage of criticism over Howrah Municipal Corporation agreeing to supply 2 million gallons of water per day to the project, amidst its general inability to sustain a proper water-supply to residential areas.[10]

Delays

The developers have missed numerous deadlines since 2008; 2013 not even half of the first phase work was completed.[2][7] Salim Group and Ciputra Development went away soon after missing the first deadline.[11]

The buyers have since formed an association -- Kolkata West Buyers' Welfare Association - to lodge protests against the supposed scam. A few flats were eventually provided with completion certificates from 2011 and onwards[8][12] but were allegedly far from complete and constructed in a sub-optimal fashion.[7] Multiple protests have been held since 2011.[2][8][12][13][14][15] In July 2011, Abhay Mohan Jha of HIMAL Southasian, made a visit to the proposed township and found it to be a desolated and uninhabited place, that resembled more of a cemetery. After being disallowed by the guards to enter the property, he visited the project-office in Chowringhee to find about 200 investors in a dharna, who despite having paid in full, were unable to move in, due to lack of any minimal infrastructure.[5] Work progressed at a very slow pace and whilst more houses were eventually constructed, most of them had no connecting road or other basic facilities.[16] The Association also protested by writing to West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, but to no avail.[17][18]

Universal Success Group has since blamed it on the delayed processing of "certain" approvals from various regulatory bodies like KMDA et al.[8] KMDA though refuted the allegations and mentioned of the group being non-transparent when queried by them, about the reasons behind such extraordinary delays.[8]

The Association has also filed a case against Kolkata West with the Competition Commission of India.[19]

References
  1. "Kolkata West International City".
  2. Reporter, A Staff (June 2011). "Bungalow buyers in a bind". Kolkata, India: The Telegraph, 3 June 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  3. Saha, Subhro (14 April 2006). "West wake-up". A sprawling satellite township that promises a slew of facilities and can house 36,000 people may change the face of Howrah. Calcutta, India: The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 March 2007.
  4. Chattopadhya, Suhrid Sankar. "Focus: West Bengal". Changing Phase. Frontline, Vol 24, Issue 2, 27 Jan–9 Feb 2007. Retrieved 26 March 2007.
  5. Jha, Abhay Mohan (July 2011). "Herey Chhe". Lalitpur, Nepal: The Himal, July 2011. Archived from the original on 17 March 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  6. "NRI Buyers Protesr Delay".
  7. Reporter, A Staff (September 2013). "Township buyers protest delay". Kolkata, India: The Telegraph, 25 September 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  8. Ranjan Bose, Pratim (June 2011). "A Kolkata township that remains castles in the air". Kolkata, India: Business Line, 18 June 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  9. Mukherjee, Mita (10 January 2007). "Howrah Cry to alter name". Calcutta, India: The Telegraph, 10 January 2007. Retrieved 26 March 2007.
  10. "The Statesman". 29 September 2007. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  11. Mitra, Dola (17 November 2016). "Keep An Ear Out For Whispers". Outlook. India. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  12. Bureau, Our (June 2011). "Delayed project: Buyers of posh housing complex threaten stir". Kolkata, India: Business Line, 28 May 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  13. Service, Statesman News (September 2013). "Buyers demand allotment of flats". Kolkata, India: The Statesman, 25 September 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  14. Banerjee, Arindam (June 2011). "Bungalows paid for, not delivered". Kolkata, India: The Indian Express, 20 June 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  15. IBN, CNN- (June 2011). "CJ exposes land scam in West Bengal". Kolkata, India: CNN-IBN, 8 June 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  16. Object, object (6 March 2018). "KWIC buyers welfare body seeks CM's intervention over unfinished project". www.millenniumpost.in. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  17. Goswami, Tarun (June 2011). "Don't give Nayachar project to Prasun: Kolkata West buyers tell Mamata". Kolkata, India: The Statesman, 27 June 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  18. Basu, Manish (May 2011). "Kolkata West homebuyers seek Bengal CM's intervention in row". Kolkata, India: Mint, 20 May 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2013.
  19. Mazumdar, Jharna (August 2011). "Conflict zone". Kolkata, India: Financial Chronicle, 24 August 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2013.

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