Dream come true

Siliguri, Jan. 3: A dream flat at a reasonable rate.

That is what Begraj Group of Company has promised. Spread over an area of 2,500 cottahs near North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, the project with 5,000 flats is for the middle-class, the price ranging from Rs 3.5 lakh to 6.5 lakh depending on the floor area and the number of rooms.

“Our target customers are people who earn Rs 10,000 to 15,000 a month. They can own a flat and stay at a place located close to the medical college and within 5km from the heart of Siliguri,” said Ajay Agarwal, the director of the company.

The flats, Agarwal said, will have two to three bed rooms, measuring around 500-800 sq ft with additional amenities like swimming pool, health club, indoor-game area and cyber café available for a nominal maintenance cost.

The Begraj Group has been in the real estate business for the past 10 years and has built commercial buildings like City Plaza, Golden Plaza and Spencer Plaza here. “We have constructed over 2 lakh sq ft of area in Siliguri so far. In the first phase of this project, we have constructed a boundary wall around a 500-cottah plot. We are determined to finish 1,000 flats by December 2007,” Agarwal said.

Local developers confirmed that this is the first large-scale project that has been taken up in Siliguri.

“Save for Uttarayon, where there are plans to erect a few hundred flats, residential complexes here usually have 60-70 flats,” said Arup Nandi, the secretary of Siliguri Builders and Developers’ Association.

Currently, the average rate of flats here is anything between Rs 1,000 and 1,200 per sq ft.

“We have entered into agreement with ace financiers of the market. People interested in purchasing flats from us can get loans from them and pay us in compatible instalments,” one of the officials said.

The project follows the decision of the state government and Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority to develop a township in the medical college area. Asok Bhattacharya, the state urban development minister, had stressed that such a township is essential for expanding the periphery of Siliguri.