West Bengal promises two IT centres by year end

NEW DELHI,INDIA: After scrapping Rajarhat IT Park, West Bengal has promised that it will get its two IT incubation centres ready by this year end.

“We are developing incubation centres at two places. One in Durgapur and the other in Silliguri. The total project cost at Silliguri is 16.95 crore and we have released Rs 7 crore so far. The project cost for Durgapur is 16.98 crore and we have released more than 13.4 crores so far. It is on the verge of completion. We are expecting it to be done by this November,” said a senior state level official from DIT, West Bengal.

Both projects have got administrative approval from Finance Department of the state.

Durgapur IT incubation centre is being developed by Asansol Durgapur Development Authrority.

These incubation centres are part of IT Parks proposed in these two cities. Silliguri IT park was earlier scheduled to get ready by this October. However, CIOL has learnt that complete project report for IT park at Silliguri and Durgapur is not yet ready and will be prepared once these incubation centres are ready.

West Bengal had commissioned a study by PriceWaterHouse Coopers to identify satellite area of the state that has potential for IT investments. In that survey, it came out with names of Durgapur, Silliguri, Kharagpur, Kalyani and Haldia.

Along with plans for IT park at Silliguri and Durgapur, the state has plans to come up with IT park at Kharagpur, Haldia and Kalyani.

At present, West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation Limited (Webel) is involved in IT park at Kharagpur. IT Park at Haldia is private initiative. At Kalyani, the state government has plans to develop SEZ on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.