A housing estate comprising 416 flats is coming up in Chetla for people in the economically weak section.

People living in a slum at the site where the estate will be built will be offered flats at a reduced price.

The Rs 8.25-crore project is being undertaken by the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) under the Basic Services to the Urban Poor scheme, of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

Half the cost will come from the Urban Renewal Mission and 30 per cent from the CMDA. The rest will have to be borne by the beneficiaries.

Each flat will cover 25 sq m and have one bedroom, one multipurpose room with kitchen space and toilet, said a CMDA official.

The estate will have all necessary infrastructure, like water supply and drainage networks, internal roads and lighting.

CMDA chief executive officer P.R. Baviskar said work on the project could have started much earlier had it not been been hampered by some “unavoidable circumstances”.

“There is a problem of dumping building material, as the area is very congested. Most of the problems, however, have been tackled and we hope to start work by June. The estate is likely to be ready in one-and-a-half years,” he added.

The CMDA had taken up a similar project in Nonadanga, on the eastern fringes, where a low-cost housing estate is coming up to rehabilitate 2,800 families evicted from various places to make way for development work.

The Nonadanga estate — coming up on a 10-acre plot — is being partnered by the Calcutta Environment Improvement Project.