Ministry delays Kolkata port land for ITC

The Left Front has one more reason to be upset with the shipping ministry, which has already irked Left MPs by shifting the apex marine training college to Chennai at the expense of the existing college in Kolkata.

The shipping ministry is reportedly sitting on a proposal forwarded by the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) to hand over a plot of surplus land to ITC. The plot lies contiguous to the existing ITC cigarette factory in the port area in west Kolkata.

Consequently, the investment plan of ITC to expand its Kidderpore cigarette factory at a cost of Rs 300 crore may be delayed. The shipping ministry is yet to respond to the plan. ITC planned to start its Kidderpore facility expansion before March 31, but this is likely to be delayed.

ITC had lined up major expansion plans, which included investing Rs 1,200 crore in the eastern region alone to build a farm produce sourcing chain, horticultural model farms and new hotels.

ITC is looking for land to build hotels in three eastern states including West Bengal, along with addition of 200-odd rooms at the ITC Sonar Bangla Hotel in Kolkata, though investment in the last could be determined by availability of other plots in the city for a second hotel.

ITC is also working to take over the land and infrastructure of a closed state government enterprise "� Lily Biscuits, on the outskirts of Kolkata.