Dream theme

Calcutta, March 29: The board of directors of Bata India will meet tomorrow to clear key proposals that will pave the way for raising funds for the real estate township development project at Batanagar.

The company plans to raise about Rs 100 crore. ICICI Bank is the prime lender.

The initial seed capital to kickstart the Rs 1,500-crore ?Calcutta Riverside? project will be provided to Riverbank Holding Pvt Ltd, a 50:50 joint venture company between city-based Calcutta Metropolitan Group (CMG) and Bata India.

The board of Riverbank Holding will meet the day after tomorrow to act upon the decision taken by Bata India. The term loans being raised by Riverbank Holding will be guaranteed by Calcutta Metropolitan Group Ltd.

As part of the process, Bata will put up the vast tract of land earmarked for development as collateral and a first charge will be created in favour of the lenders.

Besides ICICI Bank, the consortium of lenders to the project is likely to include ABN Amro and State Bank of India.

While the booking proceeds will fund most of the development, another Rs 50 crore to Rs 100 crore will come from internal accruals and some more as debt.

When contacted, a Bata official declined to comment saying there were several funding options before the board.

The project envisages composite township development with space for everything ? a hospital, school, hotel and shopping mall.

The high point of the project will be the high density riverfront housing being designed by famous architect Balakrishna Doshi.

This is the first organised housing project on the bank of river Hooghly. No less than 2500 apartments will come up on G+6 to G+8 buildings. Out of 10 million sq ft being developed by Riverbank, 4 million sq ft will be dedicated to this.

Construction will start after the monsoon with the housing scheme for existing Bata employees.

At present, the major part of the 262-acre land is being occupied by small buildings that house employees. Riverbank will consolidate them into a built-up area of 600,000 sq ft.

At the same time, about 700,000 sq ft will be dedicated for housing that will be sold to the public. Riverbank is likely to invite bookings for this in July. Calcutta-based architect Dulal Mukherjee is in charge of this project. The project also envisages a nine-hole executive golf course and golf villas around it measuring 1.6 million sq ft area.