The masterplan for the township

Guwahati, Sept. 18: Shristi Housing Development Private Limited, a subsidiary of the Calcutta-based Srei group, plans to invest Rs 3,000 crore in developing the Northeast’s first private sector integrated township in Guwahati.

The spadework for the project, Shristinagar Guwahati, covering 250 acres at Ramsa hills along the Brahmaputra, started recently with demarcation of land. Soil testing and allied works are under way at the site. The project comprises residential villas, multi-storeyed buildings, row houses, educational institutions, convention centres, hotels, theme parks, entertainment parks, water parks, nursing homes, exhibition centres and a club house.

“Development of the township in the first phase will be undertaken tentatively on 28.3 acres. This includes construction of 90 residential villas across 9.39 acres, a combination of G+2 and G+10 towers across 5.21 acres and about 100,000 square feet of commercial, retail and club space across 3.74 acres. We expect to complete the first phase work in about 30 months once the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) gives the go-ahead for construction,” Parimal Dey, director of Shristi Housing Development Pvt. Ltd, told this correspondent today.

“Of the 750 bighas (250 acres), 628 bighas will fall in the Clearance Garden area while 122 bighas are in the Kharghuli (non-cadastral) area,” Dey said, adding: “Once completed, there will be requirement of 40MW power for the township.”

The decks for the project were cleared after the ministry of environment and forests granted clearance in August 2009. The GMDA had approved the masterplan in June 2010.

While this will be the first private sector township in the Northeast, chief minister Tarun Gogoi had in the Assam budget 2013-14 proposed satellite townships with developed infrastructure. “The Pollution Control Board, Assam, had, in August, given the consent for its establishment. The construction of the boundary wall is under way. We will apprise the state government of the project later this month,” Dey said. “The state will get revenue between Rs 500 crore and Rs 800 crore in the form of stamp duty, value-added tax and other related taxes, from the project.” Shristi has set a target of about 15 years for completion of the project designed by the US firm Stantec. The company has already completed a portion of a similar township project over 90 acres at Asansol in West Bengal. “Apart from Stantec, two local architecture firms are also engaged in the Guwahati project. The residential area will house 30,000 people. We intend to keep about 65 per cent of the project land vacant. All our buildings will be earthquake-resistant,” he said.

The retail real estate market size of the Northeast is currently pegged at over Rs 11,000 crore with Guwahati leading the way with a share of over Rs 4,000 crore followed by Agartala at Rs 2,000 crore. Shristi had recently invested about Rs 60 crore on a shopping-cum-office complex in Tripura. “The Aitorma Agartala Sentrum was completed on a built-up area of 100,000 square feet a couple of months back,” Dey said.