Siliguri, July 21: Uttorayan will soon have company.

Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA) has planned a 300-acre satellite township near North Bengal Medical College and Hospital.

“The work of acquiring land has begun. We have also invited private parties for proposals regarding joint collaboration. Bid documents will be issued till July 26 and we will decide on the agencies that will be given the project by the end of next month,” said Asok Bhattacharya, the SJDA chairman and minister for urban development and municipal affairs.

“The township will consist of four sectors. Each will be constructed with the help of a different private agency with a proven track record. Though the private players will be responsible for construction, they will be issued strict guidelines, which they will have follow,” the SJDA chairman added.

Outlining the concept of the township, Bhattacharya said 43 per cent of the land will be used for residential plots.

“Twenty-five per cent will be used for roads, 10 per cent for commercial and community-related activities, 10 per cent of the land will be kept aside for setting up parks with water bodies. There will be a school, a stadium and a lot of landscaping,” Bhattacharya said.

Once the third Mahananda bridge becomes operational, the area will be around 3 km from the main town.

The bridge will be inaugurated on August 16.

“The area will assume importance once the bridge becomes operational. In order to avoid haphazard development that may follow, we decided to have a complete, planned and self-sufficient township,” the minister said.

The township will be the second of its kind after Uttorayan at Chandmoni, which is being developed jointly by the government and Bengal Ambuja.

Unlike Uttorayan, which is mainly for the upper strata of society, Bhattacharya said the new complex would be affordably priced.

“The middle and lower income groups have been kept in mind and the prices of the plots will be fixed accordingly,” he said.

Another attraction of the township is its ownership pattern. “Instead of the lease system, which gives the owners a lesser degree of freedom , we plan to provide freehold ownership to customers,” Bhattacharya said.