Batanagar township to get hotel & hospital

Kolkata: Batanagar township project, a 50:50 joint venture between Bata India and Calcutta Metropolitan Group, will sign on an international 5-star hotel chain and a hospital within two weeks, informed P M Sinha, chairman, Bata India, after its 75th annual general meeting in Kolkata.

'The Batanagar project will be completed by 2013. We are in the process of signing on an international 5-star hotel chain in the township. We are also in the process of signing on a hospital, retail chains, schools and fast food joints,' Sinha said.

'We will not have any management control with any of the companies setting up shop in the township. We are not selling the land, we are developing a township,' Sinha added.

The company is developing around 262 acres leased to it in Batanagar. The estimated total investment in the project is around Rs 1,300 crore.

Sinha said, Bata's equity in the project is in the form of land. The project cost excludes the cost of land, school, hospital and hotel construction.

The company has also got approval from the central government for setting up an IT special economic zone (SEZ), which would be spread over 25 acres and entails an investment of Rs 333.5 crore.