Bengal Peerless set to begin new project work

May 22, 2010

Work on the proposed Rs 400-crore housing-cum-commercial project of Bengal Peerless near EM Bypass will begin in June and booking will start in two to three months, according to Kumar Shankar Bagchi, managing director, Bengal Peerless.

The project was slated to take off during the end of last year but was delayed by land acquisition disputes. The West Bengal Government had acquired the land on behalf of Peerless, as per joint sector agreements. Bengal Peerless is a joint sector company of the West Bengal Housing Board and the Peerless General Finance and Investment Company Ltd.

“All land related issues have been resolved and we are currently waiting for approvals from the municipal authorities and environment department,” Bagchi said.

The first phase of the project, which involved setting up of 500 residential units in the low-, middle- and high-income categories in equal proportions, will be completed in two years, said Bagchi.

The entire project, to be developed on 13 acres near the Metro Cash and Carry outlet near EM Bypass, will contain 1,460 residential units along with some commercial office space. The company aims to complete the whole project in seven years, Bagchi added.

The project will have a total residential area of 10-11 lakh square feet and about 3.5 lakh sq ft of office space. As per the joint sector agreements, 50 per cent of the residential units will cater to the high-income groups, and the balance to middle- and low-income groups.

The surging steel and cement prices are likely to be factored in while pricing, he said.

“We have recently evaluated the rising input cost situation and found that it had pushed up our construction cost by 7.5 per cent over last year,” said Bagchi.

While the company has not passed on this extra cost to the customers of existing projects, it plans to increase prices by 10-12 per cent in its upcoming project, he added.