Bungalows paid for,not delivered

Mukherjee has been involved in a number of projects in Bengal,including a joint venture with Salim for the Nandigram SEZ,which changed political equations in the state. Once close with the Left Front,he attended the new government’s swearing in and later met the Industries Minister,which was followed by the announcement of eco-friendly,toursim projects in Nayachar.

The township was to have 6,100 bungalows and villas with a deadline of 2011. Of its four phases,the first,with 900 houses,was due for completion by November 2008 (with a grace of six months). Now,with only 169 houses complete,the developers have revised the deadline to December 2013 for the first phase and promised the rest “within 10 years”.

The 800 buyers in phase-I include IT professionals,businessmen,professors and defence personnel from all over the country,as well as NRIs. They claim to have invested Rs 300 crore between them and have formed the Kolkata West International City Buyers Welfare Association to raise their issues with the government.

Once promoted as a “dream project” of Bhattacharjee,and as the country’s first real estate sector to get Foreign Direct Investment,the township had its foundation stone laid in February 2006. The 169 houses completed have been offered to buyers with “possession letters”,while another 101 bungalows are near completion,say the developers. But buyers say the infrastructure is incomplete and only 12 of the 169 families have actually moved in. KMDA officials say the certificates were issued for individual units and not for extended facilities.

Among those who have moved in,one said,“I have been staying here for nearly a year without even basic facilities like an approach road or a market.” Another buyer,IIT-Kharagpur professor Mrityunjoy Chakraborty,said,“We now fear our money is lost and we will never get the house we booked here.”

In the last one-and-a-half years,in fact,construction has stopped. “We accept the failure to meet deadlines regarding phase-I but we expect to complete the whole project in 10 years,” said Utso Bhattacharya,chief manager,New Kolkata International Development (NKID),holding company of KWIC Pvt Ltd.

Prasun Sengupta,CEO of NKID,refused to discuss the issue; his secretary wrote back that “Mr Sengupta is taken ill and unable to answer any further queries.”

Utso Bhatacharya attributed the delay to problems relating to payment of contractors and a funds crunch. One of these contractors told The Indian Express that they have decided to stop work because they were not paid anything for an initial one-year contract. “Our unpaid bills come to nearly Rs 1.5-2 crore per contractor firm. We were told by the KWIC authorities that they are unable to pay us any money and have been pressuring us to continue work.”

Of the 390 acres for the project,160 acres was leased by the KMDA for 999 years for Rs 95 crore. “The rest of the land was to be given in modules. Certain legal complications stalled the process. The promoters and the developers also had problems in their master plan,” said Kalyan Roy,KMDA adviser (PPP),adding they are concerned about the future of the project.

Allotment letters show that buyers have to pay 80 per cent of the cost in installments after booking. Bhattacharyacalled it a “compulsion under allotment clauses”.

On allegations of lack of infrastructure,he said that they would soon open a retail mart.

The buyers’ association,which began raising the issue with the previous government,has now written to new Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and other Trinamool leaders seeking their intervention. “We demand a special auditor to check all accounts and a probe by either the CBI or the CID into the huge investment,” said Abhay Upadhyay,president of the association,who had booked a unit worth Rs 26.60 lakh and paid nearly Rs 22 lakh by 2008.