Simon Wilson: Building on the buoyancy. Picture by Aranya Sen

Bandhs don’t help the image at all and Nandigram has sent out a few jitters, but Brand Bengal retains its buoyant beat for the British and critical collaborations could be round the corner. This is the assurance of Simon Wilson, British deputy high commissioner to eastern India.

“If there are a large number of bandhs happening in Calcutta, there will be negative reports in the media, which would obviously be picked up in the West. But things are looking up and perception of Calcutta among the business community, if not tourists, has changed dramatically,” Wilson tells Metro.

There are far more enquiries, and potential investors want to know much more about West Bengal, which is “extremely encouraging”, he adds. The UK trade delegations — ranging from ports to healthcare, education to materials — stopping in Calcutta has also raised the city’s stocks.

Wilson feels the couple of “significant interviews” chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee gave to the UK media in 2005, which got a lot of publicity, helped generate more interest in Bengal.

“We have been building on that foundation of the state being more open to investments. An indication of Britain’s new-found confidence in Bengal was the recent visit by the minister for trade and we have the Lord Mayor of the City of London arriving next month. We now have the political interest, which Calcutta perhaps didn’t elicit before,” Wilson smiles.

The British mission head in town hopes new collaborations with his country could happen in the fields of healthcare, education, service sectors, engineering areas like transport links, railroad and infrastructure projects.

With more five-star hotels coming up, talk of a second airport, and of course, UK retail chains like Marks & Spencer and The Body Shop rolling up the shutters in Calcutta, the diplomat from Liverpool sees signs of rejuvenation everywhere.

And he feels Calcutta can draw inspiration from the urban renewal model of Beatles town. “Liverpool, which was once completely run down, now has Unesco listing. There’s no reason why with the right planning and political will, Calcutta can’t become a tourist destination, leveraging its heritage assets and the river,” he stresses.

Referring to the riverfront-centric seminar with British experts in Calcutta recently, Wilson emphasises that the key to such efforts is unlocking extra finance rather than just relying on the state. He says the UK is ready to offer best practices, but the trigger is in the hands of the local authorities.

“We have the expertise, and can share the experience, but it’s up to the authorities here to take it forward. We certainly haven’t solved all the issues back home, but have certainly developed a lot of templates, like the Albert Dock or the Paradise Project.”

Wilson feels Liverpool with Calcutta is a worthy comparison in terms of the riverfront and Dalhousie Square. “But in Calcutta the issues are on a much bigger scale and that every single building is occupied doesn’t help matters either,” he points out.

DFID, which already has specific partnerships with the Bengal government like working in primary healthcare and restructuring some state-level enterprises, is also working towards poverty alleviation in the second phase of its involvement.

“There are huge challenges, but they have to be overcome. It needs the extra political will to make things happen,” says the diplomat who is proud to be in a “historical melting pot of a city”.