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Mahindra & Mahindra Decided To Go Slow On Its World City Project in Bengal

By Shashank, Section Real Estate
Posted on Wed Jul 09, 2008 at 04:31:30 AM EST

: Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has decided to go slow on its world city project in Bengal.

The conglomerate, with interests ranging from automobile and real estate to IT, financial services and infrastructure, had planned to invest Rs 4,000 crore in Bengal over the next few years to develop the 100-acre IT special economic zone (SEZ) and township.

M&M executive director Arun Nanda had met Bengal IT minister Debesh Das, chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb and tourism minister Manab Mukherjee in December last year.

The world cities are integrated units which are divided into business and residential zones. They require anywhere between 100 acres and over 3,000 acres.

“We have put our plans about scouting for the location on the backburner. We have done world cities in Chennai and Jaipur covering about 2,000 acres and also near Mumbai, where the company has ancestral land of about 100 acres. We are flexible about our land requirements,” said a company spokesperson.

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In Bengal, M&M looked beyond Calcutta to Kalyani and Siliguri for the township project. “They have seen locations at Kalyani but thereafter there has been no response from them,” said an Bengal IT department official.

M&M, also known for developing destinations such as Munnar for tourism, is scouting for similar locations in the state. The company had also expressed interest in a hospitality project at New Town, Rajarhat.

“It all depends on how our investment programme shapes up in the state. Right now,we are taking it slow,” the spokesperson said.

The company’s IT arm, Tech Mahindra, is building the Bantala SEZ in over 12 acres and plans to employ 2,000 people in the first phase of 1 8 months.

M&M has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation to provide consultancy to the state government for setting up eco-friendly infrastructure in the Sunderbans.
Source: The Telegraph 09/July/2008

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