Kolkata, Oct 28 (IANS) The West Bengal government Wednesday handed over 533.51 acres to the proposed aerotropolis project, an airport city near Durgapur that will house aviation-intensive businesses.
The land was handed over to Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd (BAPL) by West Bengal Industrial Development Corp (WBIDC).

“The 99 years’ lease agreement was signed between BAPL and WBIDC under which the total lease premium paid by BAPL is Rs.44.37 crore,” the company said in a statement.

This is the first tranche of the total 2,300 acres required for the Rs.10,000-crore project, being jointly developed by BAPL and WBIDC.

“The integrated project is spread over approximately 2,300 acres and the land acquisition for the remaining area is expected over the next few months,” the statement said.

Besides having an airport, the aerotropolis would house aviation-related infrastructure like an aviation academy.

There are also plans to build an industrial park with factories, office parks, IT park, institutional area, a hospital, market, school, theme park, community centre and housing.

BAPL is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) comprising Pragati Social Infrastructure and Development Ltd, Citystar Infrastructures Ltd and Lend Lease Co (India) Ltd.

Changi Airports India Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of the Singapore-based Changi Airports International (CAI), has also picked up stake in BAPL.

CAI owns 26 percent stake in BAPL.

The rehabilitation package for the project offers a land-for-land scheme to land givers. Besides this, it offers free vocational training at Industrial Training Institute (ITI)-Durgapur to one eligible person from each land giver’s family, it said.

“Having already received the clearance from the ministry of civil aviation and attained financial closure for the project, we are in the process of completing the detailed engineering plan for the airport and expect to commence construction from March 2010,” BAPL chairman Arvind Pande said.

The airport will be operational by September 2011, he added.