Property companies in India’s eastern metropolis Kolkata have been slow in jumping on to the upscale property bandwagon.
That is changing now, with new projects increasingly targeting the high-end segment.
In September, Jones Lang LaSalle India helped the Delhi-based developers Alchemist Township India to acquire 2 million square feet of land from Hiland Groupin Kolkata. The developer is planning a project spread over 262 acres on the banks of the Ganga in Batanagar on the south-western outskirts of the city.
Labelled as the largest land deal in West Bengal’s capital city, the complex will include a hospital, a retail complex, a school, a hotel, a riverfront promenade, a nine-hole golf course and sports clubs.
It is also likely that it may become a transport hub in the future.
However, this is not the only luxury project. Billboards across the city promise islands of high-end living.
Lack of prime land along the Ganga has shifted the focus to developments in the fast-growing satellite city of Rajarhat and other areas.
The Delhi company DLF’s only premium project, which happens to be in Rajarhat, has sold out.
The Kolkata-based Ambuja Neotia Group has launched the Ganga Kutir Residency project in Raichak, comprising only a handful of villas and cottages, about 50 kilometres from the centre of Kolkata near the confluence of the Hooghly and Rupnarayan rivers. Prices range from just over 10 million rupees (Dh58,692) to 17.7m rupees.
Jones Lang LaSalle India says projects are also being developed by Space Group in Shibpur, Forum Projects in Liluah, Heritage Realty and the RDB Group.
The services sector and manufacturing are the major employers in the city.
ssahoo@thenational.ae
