From The Telegraph, Thursday July 24 2003
RED FLAGS AND RED LIGHTS
No matter how peeved Bengal’s leftists feel at the prime minister’s remark, it is impossible to deny the economic decline of the state, writes Alok Ray
No love lost
The recent remarks of the prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, on West Bengal’s economic decline, and the strong counter-attack by the chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, have stirred up an old debate. A heated controversy was triggered by the remark of the former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, when he proclaimed that Calcutta is a dying city. The response, in true Bengali fashion, was that Calcutta was the cradle of the 19th century Indian renaissance and hence, such a remark was unwarranted from anyone, least of all the prime minister. What many did not realize was that harping only on past achievements actually strengthens the perception that Calcutta was once a great and vibrant city but has lost, or is losing, its glory. In any case, few would doubt the fact of Bengal’s and Calcutta’s economic decline, if not a cultural one. So, the question remains: who or what are responsible for Bengal’s economic slide down over the years?
Many factors have contributed to the decline in a cumulative way. The first was the shifting of India’s capital from Calcutta to Delhi in 1912. Immediately, Calcutta and Bengal lost its proximity to the centre of political power and decision-making in India. Since then, no new infrastructure development project was undertaken in Calcutta as long as the British ruled.
The next major setback was the Partition of India. Bengal and Punjab were the two worst sufferers. The jute mills were in West Bengal, but the jute growing areas fell mostly in East Bengal (then East Pakistan). Many of Bengal’s gentry lost their landed property in East Bengal. This brought about an economic decline for those families. Most importantly, Partition led to a huge influx of refugees to Calcutta and its neighbourhood. This put stress on Calcutta’s infrastructure, causing unemployment to skyrocket and forced many state enterprises like the Calcutta State Transport Corporation to absorb them almost as a part of the refugee rehabilitation programme.
The refugees became easy political cannon-fodder which made Calcutta “the city of processions” and bandhs — a nightmare for industrial capital. The overpopulation problem led to the growth of slums all over the city and its suburbs. Unlike Punjab where the population flows were both ways, the influx of refugees into West Bengal far outweighed migration to East Pakistan.
Another landmark was the demise of a visionary leader like B.C. Roy. Both Durgapur and Salt Lake — the two most significant post-independence industrial-urban developments in Bengal — are the fruits of Roy’s vision and initiative.
The left-dominated United Front coalition government, which came to power in the Sixties, was mostly composed of trade union leaders who considered industrial capital and management as enemies of labour. This led to a period of gheraos and physical intimidation of company officials, often openly supported by the parties in power. Investment and capital began to flee from Bengal. This was further accelerated by the growth of the Naxalite movement.
On top of all these came the freight price equalization policy. The freight rates by Indian railways were adjusted in a way that there would be no locational advantage for any state. This policy neutralized the traditional advantage that the Bengal-Bihar industrial belt enjoyed due to the local availability of coal and iron ore.
The Jyoti Basu-led Left Front-coalition government which ruled the state for more than 25 years could not arrest the decline. No doubt Bengal suffered in terms of allocation of resources by the Central government as most of the time, political parties which were at loggerheads with the left ruled at the Centre. But, that is not the full explanation of why the left failed. Basu (and his colleagues) could not forsake the mindset of a trade union leader or of the leader of the opposition, until towards the fag end of his political career. But the damage to the image of Bengal for investors has already been done. Some progress was made in the rural economy in terms of land reforms and the panchayati raj which incidentally helped the left stay in power for such a long time. But no such bold initiatives were forthcoming to improve the investment climate of the state. State-sponsored bandhs became part of the state’s culture. The administration became highly politicized, work culture and discipline continued their downhill journey, and the urban infrastructure (despite the Metro Rail, the Vidyasagar Setu and of late, a few flyovers) in Calcutta and the suburbs failed to boost investment.
A lot of prime land around the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass was sold or leased out to people (often non-resident Indians) for setting up industries, but only a few of them materialized. It seems that the “investors” were primarily interested in acquiring prime land at throw-away government prices and later transfer them at higher prices. The left’s proud claims of the climate of communal harmony in the state does not cut much ice among potential investors. The power situation is better in Bengal compared to many other states. But the main reason for this this is the relatively low demand for power here, with hardly any new factories coming up. While the per capita annual consumption of electricity in West Bengal is around 200 kilowatt hour, the same is above 900 in Punjab, 800 in Gujarat and 500 in Tamil Nadu.
The economic decline of Calcutta has also affected the quality of its prime institutions. These days, only Bengalis or people with strong roots in Bengal decide to stay in Calcutta. A prime instance of this is the fact that less than 20 per cent of the faculty of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, an all-India institute, are from outside the state. The same would be broadly true of the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta, which once drew faculty from all over the world. This sets off a vicious cycle. Bengal is getting distanced from the rest of India and the world. Some of the best minds of Bengal have left the state and few from other places are coming to the state. This can only breed a narrow outlook and an insular feeling of being content with the little we have. This is how villages decline.
Is there no hope for Bengal’s economic future? There are only two bright spots in the prevailing gloom. One, the new chief minister, who seems sincere in his efforts. Second, the success of the Chinese experiment. Our local leftists find it easier to follow whatever the Chinese (earlier the Russians) are doing, even if the path is a market-oriented capitalist one. Hopefully, the pragmatism of Chinese communists will rub off on our local comrades.
I recently attended an international conference in China. As part of the programme, we were taken to visit an industrial plant. We were told that the plant, which manufactured lifts and escalators, started with 20 per cent foreign and 80 per cent domestic capital. But now, the foreign ownership has been increased to 80 per cent. I asked whether the socialist government took kindly to the drastic increase in foreign ownership. The manager looked surprised and replied that it was an arrangement between two private owners. Both the local and the foreign partners found it advantageous. Why should the government object? As long as it is getting the taxes? Does this have a few lessons for the communist leaders of West Bengal?
____________
High and rising
Housing complexes are coming up like there’s no tomorrow and the city’s landscape is being altered dramatically, reports Debashis Bhattacharyya
RED FLAGS AND RED LIGHTS
No matter how peeved Bengal’s leftists feel at the prime minister’s remark, it is impossible to deny the economic decline of the state, writes Alok Ray
No love lost
The recent remarks of the prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, on West Bengal’s economic decline, and the strong counter-attack by the chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, have stirred up an old debate. A heated controversy was triggered by the remark of the former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, when he proclaimed that Calcutta is a dying city. The response, in true Bengali fashion, was that Calcutta was the cradle of the 19th century Indian renaissance and hence, such a remark was unwarranted from anyone, least of all the prime minister. What many did not realize was that harping only on past achievements actually strengthens the perception that Calcutta was once a great and vibrant city but has lost, or is losing, its glory. In any case, few would doubt the fact of Bengal’s and Calcutta’s economic decline, if not a cultural one. So, the question remains: who or what are responsible for Bengal’s economic slide down over the years?
Many factors have contributed to the decline in a cumulative way. The first was the shifting of India’s capital from Calcutta to Delhi in 1912. Immediately, Calcutta and Bengal lost its proximity to the centre of political power and decision-making in India. Since then, no new infrastructure development project was undertaken in Calcutta as long as the British ruled.
The next major setback was the Partition of India. Bengal and Punjab were the two worst sufferers. The jute mills were in West Bengal, but the jute growing areas fell mostly in East Bengal (then East Pakistan). Many of Bengal’s gentry lost their landed property in East Bengal. This brought about an economic decline for those families. Most importantly, Partition led to a huge influx of refugees to Calcutta and its neighbourhood. This put stress on Calcutta’s infrastructure, causing unemployment to skyrocket and forced many state enterprises like the Calcutta State Transport Corporation to absorb them almost as a part of the refugee rehabilitation programme.
The refugees became easy political cannon-fodder which made Calcutta “the city of processions” and bandhs — a nightmare for industrial capital. The overpopulation problem led to the growth of slums all over the city and its suburbs. Unlike Punjab where the population flows were both ways, the influx of refugees into West Bengal far outweighed migration to East Pakistan.
Another landmark was the demise of a visionary leader like B.C. Roy. Both Durgapur and Salt Lake — the two most significant post-independence industrial-urban developments in Bengal — are the fruits of Roy’s vision and initiative.
The left-dominated United Front coalition government, which came to power in the Sixties, was mostly composed of trade union leaders who considered industrial capital and management as enemies of labour. This led to a period of gheraos and physical intimidation of company officials, often openly supported by the parties in power. Investment and capital began to flee from Bengal. This was further accelerated by the growth of the Naxalite movement.
On top of all these came the freight price equalization policy. The freight rates by Indian railways were adjusted in a way that there would be no locational advantage for any state. This policy neutralized the traditional advantage that the Bengal-Bihar industrial belt enjoyed due to the local availability of coal and iron ore.
The Jyoti Basu-led Left Front-coalition government which ruled the state for more than 25 years could not arrest the decline. No doubt Bengal suffered in terms of allocation of resources by the Central government as most of the time, political parties which were at loggerheads with the left ruled at the Centre. But, that is not the full explanation of why the left failed. Basu (and his colleagues) could not forsake the mindset of a trade union leader or of the leader of the opposition, until towards the fag end of his political career. But the damage to the image of Bengal for investors has already been done. Some progress was made in the rural economy in terms of land reforms and the panchayati raj which incidentally helped the left stay in power for such a long time. But no such bold initiatives were forthcoming to improve the investment climate of the state. State-sponsored bandhs became part of the state’s culture. The administration became highly politicized, work culture and discipline continued their downhill journey, and the urban infrastructure (despite the Metro Rail, the Vidyasagar Setu and of late, a few flyovers) in Calcutta and the suburbs failed to boost investment.
A lot of prime land around the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass was sold or leased out to people (often non-resident Indians) for setting up industries, but only a few of them materialized. It seems that the “investors” were primarily interested in acquiring prime land at throw-away government prices and later transfer them at higher prices. The left’s proud claims of the climate of communal harmony in the state does not cut much ice among potential investors. The power situation is better in Bengal compared to many other states. But the main reason for this this is the relatively low demand for power here, with hardly any new factories coming up. While the per capita annual consumption of electricity in West Bengal is around 200 kilowatt hour, the same is above 900 in Punjab, 800 in Gujarat and 500 in Tamil Nadu.
The economic decline of Calcutta has also affected the quality of its prime institutions. These days, only Bengalis or people with strong roots in Bengal decide to stay in Calcutta. A prime instance of this is the fact that less than 20 per cent of the faculty of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, an all-India institute, are from outside the state. The same would be broadly true of the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta, which once drew faculty from all over the world. This sets off a vicious cycle. Bengal is getting distanced from the rest of India and the world. Some of the best minds of Bengal have left the state and few from other places are coming to the state. This can only breed a narrow outlook and an insular feeling of being content with the little we have. This is how villages decline.
Is there no hope for Bengal’s economic future? There are only two bright spots in the prevailing gloom. One, the new chief minister, who seems sincere in his efforts. Second, the success of the Chinese experiment. Our local leftists find it easier to follow whatever the Chinese (earlier the Russians) are doing, even if the path is a market-oriented capitalist one. Hopefully, the pragmatism of Chinese communists will rub off on our local comrades.
I recently attended an international conference in China. As part of the programme, we were taken to visit an industrial plant. We were told that the plant, which manufactured lifts and escalators, started with 20 per cent foreign and 80 per cent domestic capital. But now, the foreign ownership has been increased to 80 per cent. I asked whether the socialist government took kindly to the drastic increase in foreign ownership. The manager looked surprised and replied that it was an arrangement between two private owners. Both the local and the foreign partners found it advantageous. Why should the government object? As long as it is getting the taxes? Does this have a few lessons for the communist leaders of West Bengal?
____________
The Telegraph Friday Oct 10 2003
Rally’s forgotten soldiers
SUNANDO SARKAR
Calcutta, Oct. 9: Nripen Biswas used to be at the forefront of rallies and meetings to save Beni Engineering in the mid-1980s. A card-holder of the Citu till two years ago, he still writes slogans on the wall, exhorting people to “rally against imperialism, globalisation and liberalisation”, for the CPM.
But he firmly opposes rallies, he says, explaining that his wall-writing is a “residential hazard” — he lives in Kamarhati where red flags outnumber others as they flutter atop shut factory gates.
Yesterday, at the “mass convention” in Mahajati Sadan, Left Front leaders said they would go on with rallies and strikes as these were the “last weapons for those without jobs because of the Centre’s liberalisation policy”. Calling rallies a “right earned by struggle”, they refused to let them go without a fight.
Today, The Telegraph visited an area (in the northern suburbs) where industry once thrived. Many are now shut — they stopped manufacturing years before the “Centre’s liberalisation policy” started — and every neighbourhood has a few jobless homes. They are the ones whose misfortune lends “legitimacy” to rallies and processions, according to the front leadership.
Among the dispossessed, who live on the fringes of the city and of its consciousness, rallies have lost meaning. Everyone who spoke (some names are changed because of “residential” and other hazards they may face) said rallies had stopped serving their purpose and they — the jobless — should not be dragged into a controversy that was not theirs.
Take Biswas, for instance. He saw Beni Engineering close down, first in June 1978, and then sputter back to life before dying finally in 1987. “Five unions (including Citu) colluded with the management to shut the factory and then steal its assets.”
“As one of the movers behind the innumerable ‘movements’, I now realise how we were duped by our leadership,” he added.
“If they served any purpose, I wouldn’t have been reduced to selling my wedding rings.”
Usha (that made motor parts till 1987) was another factory that closed down pre-liberalisation. It shut after labour problems over dearness allowance.
Ram Lal and Parmatma Singh, two of the 686-member workforce, regretted the circumstances in which the shutdown occurred. “Rallies used to take place everyday to whip up support for ‘our’ cause,” they said.
“No one now bothers to enquire about us,” Singh said. “Rallies are still organised by our zonal (Citu) leadership but we have stopped going there,” Lal added. “Bahut bharosa kiya (We had a lot of faith) but it was misplaced,” Singh — surviving on odd jobs — added.
U.K. Sengupta, a former employee of Kamala Engineering — one of BT Road’s smokestacks that have stopped belching smoke — agreed. He did not witness any union shenanigans first hand but, from whatever he had seen, he suspected if workers had gained anything from rallies.
“As a worker, I feel that those who use us as shields to deflect criticism against disruptive rallies are doing a great disservice to the working community,” he added.
Angelo Brothers was a lac-making firm that saw labour problems — starting in the early 1980s — shut it down in the mid-1990s. As security officer, Navdeep Singh saw how the union helped in pilfering the company’s machines, besides holding rallies and meetings.
“If they were really any solution, Angelo — 98 per cent of its produce was exported — and the other shutdown factories would have been humming with activity right now,” he said.
_______
From The Telegraph - Sunday July 24 2005Rally’s forgotten soldiers
SUNANDO SARKAR
Calcutta, Oct. 9: Nripen Biswas used to be at the forefront of rallies and meetings to save Beni Engineering in the mid-1980s. A card-holder of the Citu till two years ago, he still writes slogans on the wall, exhorting people to “rally against imperialism, globalisation and liberalisation”, for the CPM.
But he firmly opposes rallies, he says, explaining that his wall-writing is a “residential hazard” — he lives in Kamarhati where red flags outnumber others as they flutter atop shut factory gates.
Yesterday, at the “mass convention” in Mahajati Sadan, Left Front leaders said they would go on with rallies and strikes as these were the “last weapons for those without jobs because of the Centre’s liberalisation policy”. Calling rallies a “right earned by struggle”, they refused to let them go without a fight.
Today, The Telegraph visited an area (in the northern suburbs) where industry once thrived. Many are now shut — they stopped manufacturing years before the “Centre’s liberalisation policy” started — and every neighbourhood has a few jobless homes. They are the ones whose misfortune lends “legitimacy” to rallies and processions, according to the front leadership.
Among the dispossessed, who live on the fringes of the city and of its consciousness, rallies have lost meaning. Everyone who spoke (some names are changed because of “residential” and other hazards they may face) said rallies had stopped serving their purpose and they — the jobless — should not be dragged into a controversy that was not theirs.
Take Biswas, for instance. He saw Beni Engineering close down, first in June 1978, and then sputter back to life before dying finally in 1987. “Five unions (including Citu) colluded with the management to shut the factory and then steal its assets.”
“As one of the movers behind the innumerable ‘movements’, I now realise how we were duped by our leadership,” he added.
“If they served any purpose, I wouldn’t have been reduced to selling my wedding rings.”
Usha (that made motor parts till 1987) was another factory that closed down pre-liberalisation. It shut after labour problems over dearness allowance.
Ram Lal and Parmatma Singh, two of the 686-member workforce, regretted the circumstances in which the shutdown occurred. “Rallies used to take place everyday to whip up support for ‘our’ cause,” they said.
“No one now bothers to enquire about us,” Singh said. “Rallies are still organised by our zonal (Citu) leadership but we have stopped going there,” Lal added. “Bahut bharosa kiya (We had a lot of faith) but it was misplaced,” Singh — surviving on odd jobs — added.
U.K. Sengupta, a former employee of Kamala Engineering — one of BT Road’s smokestacks that have stopped belching smoke — agreed. He did not witness any union shenanigans first hand but, from whatever he had seen, he suspected if workers had gained anything from rallies.
“As a worker, I feel that those who use us as shields to deflect criticism against disruptive rallies are doing a great disservice to the working community,” he added.
Angelo Brothers was a lac-making firm that saw labour problems — starting in the early 1980s — shut it down in the mid-1990s. As security officer, Navdeep Singh saw how the union helped in pilfering the company’s machines, besides holding rallies and meetings.
“If they were really any solution, Angelo — 98 per cent of its produce was exported — and the other shutdown factories would have been humming with activity right now,” he said.
_______
High and rising
Housing complexes are coming up like there’s no tomorrow and the city’s landscape is being altered dramatically, reports Debashis Bhattacharyya
On either side of the 20-km Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, which links Calcutta’s airport and the eastern part of the city to the south, buildings tower into the sky. A decade ago, this was a vast expanse of marshy land. Today, scores of labourers and giant cranes are at work here. Skeletal scaffolding and hordes of billboards that advertise housing projects with rooftop gardens, swimming pools and clubs have become part of the city’s landscape. Nor is this construction frenzy confined to eastern Calcutta. Glitzy malls, multiplexes and condominiums are sprouting all over the city, whether it’s at Cossipore in the north or Jadavpur in the south. A metropolis the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi once famously described as dying is caught in a huge construction explosion.
Indeed, Calcutta’s skyline is being altered so dramatically that some can scarcely believe the transformation that’s underway. Gazing out of his 10th-floor office in south Calcutta, Dulal Mukherjee, head of architecture firm Dulal Mukherjee & Associates, exclaims: “It’s unbelievable! It’s changing so fast.” The 65-year-old architect has worked on several housing projects, including South City, perhaps south Calcutta’s tallest and most expensive ongoing residential project.
Raja Kaushal, head of the ICICI Bank’s retail and leisure property services in Delhi, puts Calcutta’s construction boom in perspective when he declares: “We are bullish about Calcutta. This is one of the emerging real estate markets in the country today along with Chennai and Pune.”
Nearly 50 large building projects ? all 10 storied or above, with 300 to 1,800 flats ? are coming up in the city at the moment, says Pradip Kumar Chopra, secretary of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India’s Bengal chapter. Most have swimming pools, gyms, clubs and malls ? all unthinkable five years ago. This apart, Chopra says at least 1,000 medium-sized projects ? mostly five-storied apartment buildings, with a car park on the ground floor ? are being constructed in the city, up from the 300 mid-sized apartment houses that were built in 2000.
That’s not all. According to construction industry men, the square feet of area under construction in the city has been growing by more than 30 per cent over the last two years. “Calcutta was for a long time lagging behind other metros when it came to real estate activity. But now the tempo has built up,” says Pradip Kumar Mukherjee, general manager at the Housing Development Finance Corporation’s (HDFC) eastern region. He says that the number of housing loans HDFC has disbursed in the city has been growing at a 30 per cent plus clip over the last couple of years. Adds he: “More and more people are taking loans and buying flats.”
This year, nearly 20 million sq. ft of floor space, both residential and commercial, is being built in the city, up from under five million sq. ft five years ago, Chopra says. Guess how much money is being poured into for this? Hold your breath: nearly Rs 5,000 crore.
What triggered the boom
The construction frenzy will only accelerate. The Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association forecasts that in the next five years a mammoth 250 million sq. ft of space will be built in the Greater Calcutta area. The total investment: a huge Rs 37,500 crore, at the rate of Rs 1,500 per sq. ft. Strikingly, the boom is drawing developers from far and wide, ranging from the Delhi-based Unitech group to Prasoon Mukherjee’s Indonesia-based Universal Success. The two companies have combined to put up a Rs 3,000 crore office-cum-residential project for software companies and professionals at Rajarhat, the new satellite township that’s barely 10 km from Calcutta airport.
A number of factors are prompting the construction boom: low-interest loans are more easily available, the number of nuclear families is on the rise and the public has begun to realise that investments in real estate are safe bets. But above all, Calcutta now houses several information technology (IT) company executives. So real estate companies are zeroing in on them and on non-resident Indians (NRIs) by putting up posh flats.
“The economic landscape in Calcutta is fast changing with the IT sector booming and companies like IBM, TCS and Wipro setting up shop in Salt Lake,” explains Rahul Todi, managing director of Bengal Shrachi Housing Development Ltd. He says that software company executives bought nearly 65 per cent of the flats at two of his company’s projects in New Town, Rajarhat. Ratan Sarkar, a consultant to Vision Comptech, a software development company in Salt Lake, adds that IT professionals are buying flats in the city, as they want to return from Bangalore and Hyderabad and settle down here.
The ups...
• Nearly 50 large building projects are coming up in the city.
• At least 1,000 medium-sized projects — mostly five-storied apartment buildings, with a car park on the ground floor are being constructed. In 2000, 300 mid-sized apartment houses were built.
• Nearly 20 million sq. ft of floor space, both residential and commercial, is being built in the city, up from under five million sq. ft five years ago.
• Nearly Rs 5,000 crore is being poured into construction this year.
...And downs
• Builders are facing a shortage of civil engineers.
• In some parts of south Calcutta, residents complain about not being able to call electricians or plumbers for repair work at home, because builders have engaged most of them.
• Land prices and prices of flats are ballooning
NRIs too are buying apartments in a big way. That’s partly because real estate companies have, for a few years, held road shows in London, New York and Dubai; some even set up stalls at the recently concluded Biswa Bengali Sammelan in New York. Bengalis in the US, the UK and West Asia seem to have been attracted by the city’s infrastructural improvements ? five-star hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, private schools and hospitals. “They have an emotional attachment to the city where most of the them grew up and have their relatives,” says Jugal Khetawat, a director of South City, the company set up by several other real estate companies to float the South City project. NRIs have already bought more than 30 per cent of the project’s flats.
Predictably, Calcutta’s real estate boom has resulted in a scarcity of skilled personnel. Builders are already facing a shortage of civil engineers. In some parts of south Calcutta, residents grumble about not being able to call electricians or plumbers for repair work at home, because builders have engaged most of them.
What is more, land prices and prices of flats are ballooning. Khetawat, who is president of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association, says the land prices have almost doubled over the last two years, while the prices of flats have increased by 20 to 30 per cent. In 2001, flats in Rajarhat, for instance, were sold for Rs 1,000 per sq. foot. Apartments in the area now fetch Rs 1,500-1,600 per sq. foot. In the upscale neighbourhoods of New Alipore and Ballygunge, apartments are now priced at Rs 3,300-3,500 per sq. foot, up from Rs 2,500-2,700 per sq. foot in 2001.
All for a good bargain
Nonetheless, prices are still lower in Calcutta than in most big cities. “You get a decent flat at Rajarhat for Rs 1,500 per sq. ft, but a similar flat in, say, Gurgaon or Noida on the outskirts of New Delhi will cost you at least Rs 2,500 per sq. foot,” notes Harshvardan Neotia, managing director of Bengal Ambuja Housing Development Ltd.
Calcutta’s construction boom has other pluses too. Ravi Poddar, eastern regional chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry, says that the boom is pushing more investment into the city, throwing up more job opportunities and showcasing Calcutta’s growing economic prowess. “More than anything else, the rising construction activity shows that Calcutta is alive and kicking. It’s not a dying or dead city,” Poddar says wryly, referring to Rajiv Gandhi’s statement.
With the state government too foraying into the real estate sector by floating eight joint sector companies (Bengal Ambuja is one of them), Neotia says there has been an overall improvement in the quality of construction. “There is also greater transparency in property deals,” Neotia adds. That’s because, as housing minister Goutam Deb points out, promoters of housing projects are now required to register with his department and submit all details of their projects before they can start work.
Not everyone agrees. Prabir Basu, working president of the Bengal Federation of Consumer Organisations, argues that many builders do not often provide what they charge their buyers for. “They tell you they will give you a multi-gym and charge you for that, but in the end provide only a treadmill and an exercise cycle. They also often delay giving possession,” Basu says.
Builders, meanwhile, fret that the huge amount of construction in Calcutta will lead to oversupply. “It will happen in five years,” Khetawat says. Till then, though, Mukherjee and other architects and builders will burn the midnight oil to complete the hordes of buildings that are coming up.
The skyline is changing, and there is work to be done.
Calcutta 2025: Ring roads, health city, biotech park
Cars will zip down broad, leafy ring roads that encircle the city. The ring roads will be lined with garden-fronted highrises and glass-and-marble shopping arcades. The city will have three new townships. And it could perhaps be the medical capital of the region, catering to overseas patients — on its outskirts will be a health city with super-speciality hospitals and medical and nursing colleges, apart from a biotechnology park.
No, we’re not referring to New Delhi or Bangalore. In 2025, that’s what Calcutta will look like if the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has its way.
CMDA CEO P.R. Baviskar says that the population of the Calcutta metropolitan area — made up of three corporations, 38 municipalities and 22 Panchayat Samitys — is expected to balloon from 14.69 million to 21 million in two decades. Consequently, the demand for roads and houses will soar.
Baviskar says the government will build two ring roads (an inner ring road and an outer ring road, just like the ones New Delhi has) to speed up traffic flow. To build the inner ring road, the proposed Eastern Expressway, Southern Expressway, Belgharia Expressway and National Highway 2 and 6 will be connected by building 116 km of new roads.
Similarly, 72 km of new roads will be constructed to build the outer ring road that will run around the Calcutta metropolitan area. “The roads are already there. So, all we have to do is join the missing links,” Baviskar says.
Three new satellite townships will be built in Howrah, on the other side of the Hooghly river, Dankuni (about 15 km from Calcutta) and Baruipur (now a small town about 12 km from Calcutta). “They will relieve the pressure on Calcutta to a large extent,” the CMDA CEO says.
Work on the 390-acre township in Howrah has already begun and will be partly complete by 2008. Nearly 5,000 acres of land have been earmarked for the project in Dankuni, while the Baruipur township will cover 2,600 acres. Work in Dankuni and Baruipur is expected to start in a year.
Once the new township comes up in Baruipur in 2008 or so, the headquarters of South 24 Parganas district — still in Calcutta’s Alipore — will be shifted there. Dankuni township is expected to be functional, at least partly, by 2011.
The health city will come up over 800 acres in Sonarpur, around 10 km from Calcutta. Some Rs 20,000 crore will be invested in it. According to Sajal Dutta, president of the Association of Hospitals of Eastern India, who’s involved in the project, at least 100 hospitals with a total capacity of 50,000 beds will come up in the health city, aimed mainly at patients from Southeast and West Asia. The city will also house medical and nursing colleges and training institutes for paramedics.
The biotechnological park, Baviskar says, will come up over 200 acres in the city. Several biotechnology companies have shown interest in setting up research and development facilities here. But the site has not yet been finalised. It could be either in Sonarpur or in Rajarhat, barely 10 km from Calcutta airport where a satellite township called New Town is coming up.
Clearly, cartographers will have to redraw the city’s map in the years ahead.
Indeed, Calcutta’s skyline is being altered so dramatically that some can scarcely believe the transformation that’s underway. Gazing out of his 10th-floor office in south Calcutta, Dulal Mukherjee, head of architecture firm Dulal Mukherjee & Associates, exclaims: “It’s unbelievable! It’s changing so fast.” The 65-year-old architect has worked on several housing projects, including South City, perhaps south Calcutta’s tallest and most expensive ongoing residential project.
Raja Kaushal, head of the ICICI Bank’s retail and leisure property services in Delhi, puts Calcutta’s construction boom in perspective when he declares: “We are bullish about Calcutta. This is one of the emerging real estate markets in the country today along with Chennai and Pune.”
Nearly 50 large building projects ? all 10 storied or above, with 300 to 1,800 flats ? are coming up in the city at the moment, says Pradip Kumar Chopra, secretary of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India’s Bengal chapter. Most have swimming pools, gyms, clubs and malls ? all unthinkable five years ago. This apart, Chopra says at least 1,000 medium-sized projects ? mostly five-storied apartment buildings, with a car park on the ground floor ? are being constructed in the city, up from the 300 mid-sized apartment houses that were built in 2000.
That’s not all. According to construction industry men, the square feet of area under construction in the city has been growing by more than 30 per cent over the last two years. “Calcutta was for a long time lagging behind other metros when it came to real estate activity. But now the tempo has built up,” says Pradip Kumar Mukherjee, general manager at the Housing Development Finance Corporation’s (HDFC) eastern region. He says that the number of housing loans HDFC has disbursed in the city has been growing at a 30 per cent plus clip over the last couple of years. Adds he: “More and more people are taking loans and buying flats.”
This year, nearly 20 million sq. ft of floor space, both residential and commercial, is being built in the city, up from under five million sq. ft five years ago, Chopra says. Guess how much money is being poured into for this? Hold your breath: nearly Rs 5,000 crore.
What triggered the boom
The construction frenzy will only accelerate. The Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association forecasts that in the next five years a mammoth 250 million sq. ft of space will be built in the Greater Calcutta area. The total investment: a huge Rs 37,500 crore, at the rate of Rs 1,500 per sq. ft. Strikingly, the boom is drawing developers from far and wide, ranging from the Delhi-based Unitech group to Prasoon Mukherjee’s Indonesia-based Universal Success. The two companies have combined to put up a Rs 3,000 crore office-cum-residential project for software companies and professionals at Rajarhat, the new satellite township that’s barely 10 km from Calcutta airport.
A number of factors are prompting the construction boom: low-interest loans are more easily available, the number of nuclear families is on the rise and the public has begun to realise that investments in real estate are safe bets. But above all, Calcutta now houses several information technology (IT) company executives. So real estate companies are zeroing in on them and on non-resident Indians (NRIs) by putting up posh flats.
“The economic landscape in Calcutta is fast changing with the IT sector booming and companies like IBM, TCS and Wipro setting up shop in Salt Lake,” explains Rahul Todi, managing director of Bengal Shrachi Housing Development Ltd. He says that software company executives bought nearly 65 per cent of the flats at two of his company’s projects in New Town, Rajarhat. Ratan Sarkar, a consultant to Vision Comptech, a software development company in Salt Lake, adds that IT professionals are buying flats in the city, as they want to return from Bangalore and Hyderabad and settle down here.
The ups...
• Nearly 50 large building projects are coming up in the city.
• At least 1,000 medium-sized projects — mostly five-storied apartment buildings, with a car park on the ground floor are being constructed. In 2000, 300 mid-sized apartment houses were built.
• Nearly 20 million sq. ft of floor space, both residential and commercial, is being built in the city, up from under five million sq. ft five years ago.
• Nearly Rs 5,000 crore is being poured into construction this year.
...And downs
• Builders are facing a shortage of civil engineers.
• In some parts of south Calcutta, residents complain about not being able to call electricians or plumbers for repair work at home, because builders have engaged most of them.
• Land prices and prices of flats are ballooning
NRIs too are buying apartments in a big way. That’s partly because real estate companies have, for a few years, held road shows in London, New York and Dubai; some even set up stalls at the recently concluded Biswa Bengali Sammelan in New York. Bengalis in the US, the UK and West Asia seem to have been attracted by the city’s infrastructural improvements ? five-star hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, private schools and hospitals. “They have an emotional attachment to the city where most of the them grew up and have their relatives,” says Jugal Khetawat, a director of South City, the company set up by several other real estate companies to float the South City project. NRIs have already bought more than 30 per cent of the project’s flats.
Predictably, Calcutta’s real estate boom has resulted in a scarcity of skilled personnel. Builders are already facing a shortage of civil engineers. In some parts of south Calcutta, residents grumble about not being able to call electricians or plumbers for repair work at home, because builders have engaged most of them.
What is more, land prices and prices of flats are ballooning. Khetawat, who is president of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association, says the land prices have almost doubled over the last two years, while the prices of flats have increased by 20 to 30 per cent. In 2001, flats in Rajarhat, for instance, were sold for Rs 1,000 per sq. foot. Apartments in the area now fetch Rs 1,500-1,600 per sq. foot. In the upscale neighbourhoods of New Alipore and Ballygunge, apartments are now priced at Rs 3,300-3,500 per sq. foot, up from Rs 2,500-2,700 per sq. foot in 2001.
All for a good bargain
Nonetheless, prices are still lower in Calcutta than in most big cities. “You get a decent flat at Rajarhat for Rs 1,500 per sq. ft, but a similar flat in, say, Gurgaon or Noida on the outskirts of New Delhi will cost you at least Rs 2,500 per sq. foot,” notes Harshvardan Neotia, managing director of Bengal Ambuja Housing Development Ltd.
Calcutta’s construction boom has other pluses too. Ravi Poddar, eastern regional chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry, says that the boom is pushing more investment into the city, throwing up more job opportunities and showcasing Calcutta’s growing economic prowess. “More than anything else, the rising construction activity shows that Calcutta is alive and kicking. It’s not a dying or dead city,” Poddar says wryly, referring to Rajiv Gandhi’s statement.
With the state government too foraying into the real estate sector by floating eight joint sector companies (Bengal Ambuja is one of them), Neotia says there has been an overall improvement in the quality of construction. “There is also greater transparency in property deals,” Neotia adds. That’s because, as housing minister Goutam Deb points out, promoters of housing projects are now required to register with his department and submit all details of their projects before they can start work.
Not everyone agrees. Prabir Basu, working president of the Bengal Federation of Consumer Organisations, argues that many builders do not often provide what they charge their buyers for. “They tell you they will give you a multi-gym and charge you for that, but in the end provide only a treadmill and an exercise cycle. They also often delay giving possession,” Basu says.
Builders, meanwhile, fret that the huge amount of construction in Calcutta will lead to oversupply. “It will happen in five years,” Khetawat says. Till then, though, Mukherjee and other architects and builders will burn the midnight oil to complete the hordes of buildings that are coming up.
The skyline is changing, and there is work to be done.
Calcutta 2025: Ring roads, health city, biotech park
Cars will zip down broad, leafy ring roads that encircle the city. The ring roads will be lined with garden-fronted highrises and glass-and-marble shopping arcades. The city will have three new townships. And it could perhaps be the medical capital of the region, catering to overseas patients — on its outskirts will be a health city with super-speciality hospitals and medical and nursing colleges, apart from a biotechnology park.
No, we’re not referring to New Delhi or Bangalore. In 2025, that’s what Calcutta will look like if the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has its way.
CMDA CEO P.R. Baviskar says that the population of the Calcutta metropolitan area — made up of three corporations, 38 municipalities and 22 Panchayat Samitys — is expected to balloon from 14.69 million to 21 million in two decades. Consequently, the demand for roads and houses will soar.
Baviskar says the government will build two ring roads (an inner ring road and an outer ring road, just like the ones New Delhi has) to speed up traffic flow. To build the inner ring road, the proposed Eastern Expressway, Southern Expressway, Belgharia Expressway and National Highway 2 and 6 will be connected by building 116 km of new roads.
Similarly, 72 km of new roads will be constructed to build the outer ring road that will run around the Calcutta metropolitan area. “The roads are already there. So, all we have to do is join the missing links,” Baviskar says.
Three new satellite townships will be built in Howrah, on the other side of the Hooghly river, Dankuni (about 15 km from Calcutta) and Baruipur (now a small town about 12 km from Calcutta). “They will relieve the pressure on Calcutta to a large extent,” the CMDA CEO says.
Work on the 390-acre township in Howrah has already begun and will be partly complete by 2008. Nearly 5,000 acres of land have been earmarked for the project in Dankuni, while the Baruipur township will cover 2,600 acres. Work in Dankuni and Baruipur is expected to start in a year.
Once the new township comes up in Baruipur in 2008 or so, the headquarters of South 24 Parganas district — still in Calcutta’s Alipore — will be shifted there. Dankuni township is expected to be functional, at least partly, by 2011.
The health city will come up over 800 acres in Sonarpur, around 10 km from Calcutta. Some Rs 20,000 crore will be invested in it. According to Sajal Dutta, president of the Association of Hospitals of Eastern India, who’s involved in the project, at least 100 hospitals with a total capacity of 50,000 beds will come up in the health city, aimed mainly at patients from Southeast and West Asia. The city will also house medical and nursing colleges and training institutes for paramedics.
The biotechnological park, Baviskar says, will come up over 200 acres in the city. Several biotechnology companies have shown interest in setting up research and development facilities here. But the site has not yet been finalised. It could be either in Sonarpur or in Rajarhat, barely 10 km from Calcutta airport where a satellite township called New Town is coming up.
Clearly, cartographers will have to redraw the city’s map in the years ahead.
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