Health high

Cancer cure comes under the scanner this year. Peerless Hospital and BK Roy Research Institute are setting up a new oncology unit with radiation facility, cancer surgery and chemotherapy, to be operative by April 2005 with 50 beds. The radiology department is also to be upgraded with multi-slide CT scan with MRI.

AMRI Hospitals is unveiling a seven-floor building housing oncology, cardiology and neurology units with190 beds. The 50-bed oncology unit will have linear accelerator with IMRD (for selectively destroying the malignant cells and keeping the healthy peripheral cells intact), brachytherapy, radiotherapy and treatment planning system.

Ruby General Hospital has set aside a 2.5-acre plot exclusively for a neurology and oncology unit. Equipped with linear accelerator, brachytherapy machine, simulators and gama cameras, the 350-bed unit will handle radiation oncology. The unit will also deal with nuclear medicine, a part of medicine oncology and surgical oncology.

Apollo Gleneagles Hospital is also set to march forward. The third phase of upgradation of its oncology unit will take place in 2005. Medical, surgical and paediatric haemato oncology facilities will be introduced as will radiation oncology, along with radiotherapy, pet scan and other facilities.

At Calcutta Medical Research Institute (CMRI), breast cancer is the focus. Facilities will be installed to detect the disease along with menopause, and a clinic for women.

Infotech blueprint

If 2004 was the year of intent, 2005 better be the year of implementation. The engine, of course, is information technology (IT) industry. The state IT department is confident that the year will see Satyam, GE Capital, HSBC and ITC Infotech commissioning their facilities in the city. Things would really click if the expansion plans of TCS, Wipro, IBM, CTS and Skytech do roll out. The growth run in the industry would be matched by expansion of infrastructure facilities like DLF?s IT habitat in Rajarhat.

?All these will have a significant impact on the state?s economy as employment opportunities will multiply,? says G.D. Gautama, principal secretary, IT.

Old economy is not in fadeout mode either. According to the industries and commerce department, the manufacturing sector will see a burst of activity with iron and steel leading from the front. To cash in on the post-WTO textile industry boom, the government has already decided to set up a textile and apparels park this year. The controversial Calcutta Leather Complex would be operational, while Toy Park and Mani Kanchan will witness expansion.

Net gain

The next Internet boom is around the corner, they say, with both BSNL and Reliance Infocomm gearing up to provide high-speed Internet access at affordable prices. BSNL?s DataOne Broadband Service is scheduled for launch around January 15 and will provide connectivity upwards of 256 kbps, reveals a spokesperson. The always-on connectivity through existing basic telephone lines is likely to cost Rs 500 per month. Already 8,500 people have shown interest in the service, claims BSNL, which is targeting 9,500 customers by March 2005.

The other, much-hyped broadband promise is from the Reliance stable. In a joint venture with state nodal agency Webel, the company is poised to provide television, telephony, Internet, video-on-demand and interactive video games to domestic users through a fibre-optic backbone. But Internet tops the priority list as the first phase of the services ? under brand name Home Netway ? rolls out, tentatively by mid-April.

For last-mile distribution, you would still have to depend on your friendly neighbourhood cableman. ?Competitive? rates and ?close to Reliance Web World speed? (768 kbps) might make it worth the wait.

Toast of Town

New Town, new vision, new goals and new benchmarking. This is where much of the activity will be. The first three joint-sector housing complexes in Action Area I are either ready for possession or nearing completion.

The Ambuja group, the Shrachi group and the Peerless group have created the first real estate ripples in collaboration with the West Bengal Housing Board. Three more joint-sector projects were flagged off in Action Area II late last year by Jyoti Basu and state housing minister Gautam Deb. Bengal United Credit Belani Housing Ltd, Bengal Park Chambers Housing Development Ltd and Bengal Shelter Housing Development Ltd will all start construction shortly, creating 1,566 dwelling units.

Four more projects in the joint sector are expected to be launched this year, with the Ambuja group, Shrachi group, Peerless group and DCL group, also in Action Area II, to develop housing stock of 3.5 million sq ft in all.

Much of the activity in New Town would revolve around IT. DLF has kicked off construction of its IT park and is planning another big township. Unitech has successfully bid for a 150-acre mixed-use project, of which 100 acres will be devoted to residential blocks and the rest 50 acres will house leisure, recreation, retail and IT. Time to be taken: six years. Estimated cost: Rs 3,000 crore.

A host of other mega projects is in the pipeline, including a 25-acre IT property by Ascendas of Singapore. The subsidiary of Jurong Town Corporation is in dialogue with possible local partners, and if it gets the nod, could develop 2.5 million sq ft of IT space.

And all this in Rajarhat ? so what if patches of the showpiece pathway to the airport have caved in!

River sutra

Visionary architect Charles Correa?s dream project of turning Calcutta?s riverfront into a signature destination finally looks like getting off the ground, with Writers? Buildings kicking off a concerted initiative in-volving all stakeholders by the river.

The process of data collection for a proper mapping of the entire action area extending from Chinsurah to Budge Budge has already begun and a masterplan for the waterfront project is expected to be drawn up by this year, for work to begin.

Mayor?s agenda

A bottling plant for treated water at Palta under UNO?s Human Settlement Programme; a Rs 80-lakh roadside swimming pool for girls and children on the boulevard of Southern Avenue; a Rs 2-crore riverfront beautification-cum-entertainment park on a 20-acre plot at Uttarpara; seven high-rise fountains, costing Rs 2 crore, at Manohardas Tarag and the park opposite Rabindra Sadan; augmentation of Garden Reach Waterworks for Rs 30 crore; a new park booster station near the slaughterhouse in north-east Calcutta for Rs 20 crore; two water treatment plants at Palta for Rs 13 crore; a Rs 15-crore project to replace 11-km stretch of 60-year-old 54-inch diameter water mains in Shyambazar?

Catch your breath even as poll fever grips the Corporation!