The city-based Fort group on Thursday bagged the contract for setting up an office complex and a mall on a 5.93-acre plot in Ultadanga, owned by the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA).

The agency, after naming the successful bidder, announced plans to undertake a slew of development projects, with private partners, on its properties in Calcutta and elsewhere in the state.

The Fort group will pay Rs 75crore as compensation for the plot and relocate the 160 families living in a “decrepit” estate that now stands at the site.

“These families will be relocated in flats to be built by Fort and handed over to us free,” CMDA chief executive officer P.R. Baviskar said after opening the six financial bids for one of the largest realty projects involving institutional land in Calcutta.

The Fort group beat off competition from Paharpur Cooling Towers (Rs 57crore), South City group (Rs 55crore), Salarpuria group (Rs 35.51crore), BMW Industries (Rs 10.67crore) and Mumbai’s Unity Infrastructure (Rs 3crore).

The company had earlier bagged the contract for building a residential estate and a circuit house on a state government plot in Gol Park. It had also pitched for the redevelopment of Park Circus Market, owned by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, but lost to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail.

The race for the Ultadanga project reached a decisive stage on April 24, the day the eight technical bids were opened and two out-of-town bidders, Marg group of Chennai and Mumbai-based Agarwal & Associates, were disqualified.

Baviskar, who supervised the opening of the financial bids, said efforts were on to set up special purpose vehicles (SPVs) to undertake a clutch of projects in Calcutta, Salt Lake and elsewhere in the state.

For starters, SPVs will be floated for a pair of office towers in Salt Lake Sector V, an entertainment park surrounding a waterbody near Ruby General Hospital and several hotels, including one in Kalyani. “We will work out the details shortly,” said Baviskar.