The latest to get off the runway is Bengal Shrachi Housing Development, which has signed a deal with the Bardhaman Development Authority to develop a new township on 257 acres in Goda, adjoining Bardhaman city.
If the masterplan is any indication, besides the usual malls and multiplexes, it will have large water bodies - and condominiums, row houses, duplexes, mullti-storied apartment blocks and bungalows overlooking these water bodies.
On similar lines, Asansal Durgapur Development Authority has tied up with Bengal Shristi Infrastructure Development to develop the region, which comes under the Bardhaman district.
Durgapur City Centre, an urban plaza with commercial, retail, residential and entertainment amenities, is already functional, and construction has started on Shristinagar, an 88-acre township project (for which Sembcorp of Singapore is the engineering and management consultant).
Other than these two, Bengal Ambuja Housing Development has come up with two large-scale residential projects - Urvashi in Durgapur and Ulhas in Bardhaman - for which it has tied up with Bardhaman Zilla Parishad.
The company is also developing Uttorayan in Siliguri, which is a 400-acre development spread out over undulating landscape on both sides of National Highway 31.
Private sector developers are looking beyond Kolkata as industrial activity is picking up in these areas, and the government is helping development with its own projects.
There's a 48-acre Export Promotion Industrial Park coming up and a Software Technology Park in ADDA territory. There is an STP planned in Siliguri, and the BDA proposes to get private participation for an 11.5-acre IT park.
While government departments like ADDA and BDA are happy to get private sector funds and expertise for development, developers are happy to tap the new market opportunity that smaller cities present.
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