Apeejay projects hit land hurdle

The diversified Apeejay Surrendra group is facing problems with land in Bengal, much like most other projects.

The group’s Rs 2,000-crore shipyard project, under a joint venture with Bharti Shipyard, may not take off in the next two years. Geonkhali in East Medinipur was selected as the site, but there were issues with land acquisition. “The project will not happen, not in the next two years,” said Apeejay group chairman Karan Paul.

However, the logistics park at Haldia, which was earlier facing problems, was now on track. The land was acquired by the government, but after work began on the boundary wall, the land-losers, supported by the Trinamool Congress, started demanding for more compensation. The 90-acre logistics park was also an equal joint venture between the Apeejay Surrendra group and Eredene Capital Plc.

Now, the group’s proposed hotel has run into trouble with land losers questioning the acquisition of land, despite the land being allotted by the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA).

“The land was allotted by KMDA,” said Paul while adding that work on the 250-300 room hotel would start next year. The investment would be approximately Rs 450-500 crore. At present, the Apeejay Surrendra group has around 6-7 projects in Bengal across its various business sectors.

Apeejay today announced a partnership with Keventer Agro to launch and market its global tea brand, Typhoo in the eastern region. Under the arrangement, Keventer will be responsible for marketing and distribution in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, North East, in addition to West Bengal and Bhutan.

A separate joint venture with Keventer could also be explored for launching branded tea. Keventer has a distribution network across 100,000 outlets, serviced by 900 distributors and supported by a sales team of over 500 catering to a consumer base of a 100 million.