Kolkata's New Town to get 25-acre entertainment hub: CM Mamata Banerjee

KOLKATA: The state has identified 25 acres of land in New Town to set up an entertainment, technology and creativity hub and make the township a one-stop destination for cultural activities.Hidco, the state's infrastructure development wing, would be implementing the project on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. The site is likely to be located near Eco Park.The centre would be called Biswa Angan in Bengali and its formal name would be International Information Technology and Entertainment Park (IITEC), Banerjee said, hoping that the new facility would be as successful as the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre (also in New Town) and attract big-ticket concerts and other events.The state also plans to have a third convention centre in Siliguri after the two in New Town and Digha.Banerjee also revealed the state had got 10 new investment proposals in steel and other industries worth Rs 25,000 crore. "We have land in Jagal Sundari Karmanagari in Raghunathpur, Durgapur and Panagarh. The state has allotted 10 industrial plots to big industries with the total land allotted being 2,515 acres," she said, projecting a total employment opportunity of around 70,000.There would be shopping malls in all 23 district headquarters, the Bengal CM said. "We will give one acre for each facility. Plots have already been cleared for 11 districts and the process is on for the other 12. There will also be two floors for products made by self-help groups," she added. Fifteen industrial estates and 43 plots had been allotted for MSME investments, Banerjee said, adding Bengal now had 90 lakh MSMEs and over 660 clusters.