Bajoria lines up Rs 600 crore real estate plan

Hooghly Investments Limited has lined up investment of Rs 600 crore over the next three years in its retail and real estate projects in West Bengal.

It plans to build two mall-cum-multiplex zones in Howrah and Barrackpore.

Each of these would be spread over 3 lakh sq ft and would entail an investment of Rs 50 crore each.

"We are in talks with Fun Republic and Future Group to set up multiplexes and anchor stores in the malls," informed Sanjay Bajoria, CEO of Hooghly Investments.

The multiplexes in both the malls are expected to offer the facility to watch movies at Rs 50.

This would be possible by controlling the extensive luxury element.

For instance, the multiplexes may not house escalators or central air-conditioning in order to curb operation costs.

The company also plans to build a Rs 500 crore, 18 lakh sq ft residential block, comprising 678 apartments, in Garden Reach in West Bengal.

It recently completed the Rs 35 crore E-Mall in Kolkata and is scouting for land in Durgapur and Siliguri to replicate it.

It is also looking at land in Guwahati and Orissa for building e-malls.

"We have been approached by our tenants at our e-mall in Kolkata to build similar formats in smaller towns like Durgapur and Siliguri. These tenants include Samsung, LG, eZone, fitness equipment companies and computer companies on whose requests we have decided to take up similar projects in smaller towns and cities as well," said Bajoria.

It has also ropped in Sembawang Engineers & Constructions Pte Ltd, a Punj Lloyd company, to construct its residential project in Garden Reach. Sembawang also built the e-mall in Kolkata.

According to Bajoria, the 80,000 sq ft e-mall in Kolkata is expected to bring in a monthly turnover of Rs 30 crore.

At present it has close to 40 shops and 20 more are likely to open by the year-end. These include brands like Logitech, RPG Cellucom, Aircel, Jamo, Zapak, Samsonite, Zuari, Subhiksha, Canon, etc.