Unitech clears land hurdles in Bengal, starts project work

Unitech, the realty and infrastructure company, has managed to clear land acquisition problems in west Bengal and restart work at its projects here.

In spite of some initial hiccups due to problems in land acquisition, the real estate projects by Unitech in West Bengal were now on track. After facing delays due to problems in land acquisition, work at the proposed logistics hub on Kona Expressway had started.

Earlier, a major part of the construction work was affected due to problems caused by land acquisition linked to the widening of Kona Expressway, one of the five highways out of Kolkata. Officials involved in the project could not give any time frame for the completion of the project, but reiterated that the project was on track after taking into account the initial delay.

"The project has been subject to the slowdown in the real estate sector like any other project. There has been no unusual delay in executing it," said sources in Unitech.Another project of the same group- the Kolkata West township located on a huge plot close to the Kona Expressway, had also overcome initial land acquisition problems.

It was yet to be completed. While the two residential clusters of the township would be available for possession by April-May, construction work for another two clusters would be over by the year end, said sources.

However, construction work on the major public part of the project, that included hospitals, shopping malls, school and other amenities, were yet to commence.

The project was slated to be completed by 2011.

Company officials maintained that land acquisition problems earlier faced in executing both the projects have been overcome. The DLF township project at Dankuni was at present in limbo due to land acquisition problems.

Land acquisition problems had become such a major issue in Bengal that even government agencies were reworking their strategies to take projects forward.With the slowdown in the real estate sector impacting some of the big public private partnership (PPP) projects, the Kolkata Metropoliton Development Authority (KMDA) recently decided to focus on fully government-owned projects.

KMDA sources said it was no longer in favour of auctioning any land in its possession in the coming days.

It would be increasingly focusing on projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Recently, the authority submitted projects worth Rs 500 crore under Basic Services to Urban Poor (BSUP) of JNNURM to the Centre for approval. The Central sanctioning authority was expected to meet on January 15 for assessing the projects.