WB govt plans to set up IT parks in 5 cities

KOLKATA: Five Tier II cities in West Bengal - Siliguri, Kalyani, Durgapur, Kharagpur and Haldia - have been identified as potential destinations for setting up IT parks by the government, state IT Secretary Siddharth said on Friday.

Siddhartha said these Tier II cities had been identified as the next IT destinations in the state, by a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) study.

The government had commissioned PwC to undertake the study, which was initiated in January 2007. PwC submitted its interim report in March and the final report was submitted this month.

The final report states that of the five cities, Kalyani, Siliguri and Durgapur emerged as preferred destinations on account of their advantages in connectivity, land availability and cost, urban and social infrastructure, level of private sector interest and other location specific differentiators.

PwC has given more priority to Kalyani because of its proximity to Kolkata and the availability of government land. Moreover, it is a planned city with adequate infrastructure in terms of water supply, drainage and sewerage system.

Around 30 acres has already been identified for IT park development, which can be augmented by another 500 acres depending on the requirements.