DLF lines up Rs 2,713 cr for Bengal township

Though land acquisition for the proposed 5,000 acre township in Dankuni is still several miles from completion, the financial bid for the same has already been opened and the DLF consortium is on the top rung with a bid value of Rs 2,713 crore for the land.

The company has also made its technical presentation along with five other parties. Second in place is Emaar-MGF, which had bagged a Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority plot in April this year at Rs 213 crore for six acres. Emaar-MGF's bid value stands at Rs 2,013 crore.

"It has been a six-party bid and DLF's financial bid is the highest. Our technical presentation has also been made and the plan submitted. We are quite confident of bagging the deal. However, till the time the government consolidates its own recommendations, the deal will not be finalised," said a DLF representative.

The government is yet to complete land acquisition in the Dankuni area for the township. On completion, it will house an industrial park spread over an area of 1,000 acres, with the rest housing the integrated township.

Apart from residential quarters, the township would also have hotels, health centres, a sports complex, an entertainment zone, shopping malls and lakes, said the DLF representative.

DLF already has preferred partners for this project. However, for some of the development on this land, it will also invite partnership offers from others.

With this deal, land prices in the Dankuni area will shoot upward of Rs 80,000 per cottah, much higher than the estimated Rs 35,000 to Rs 40,000 a cottah. Among the others short-listed for the financial bid were the Ambuja Group and Zee Television promoter Subhash Chandra's Suncity.

Two local bidders were also part of the race. If the deal is sealed in favour of DLF, it will be the second township project undertaken by the group. DLF's first project was the Gurgaon city developed over 3,000 acres.