By IANS,
Kolkata : Real estate major Ambuja Realty Saturday opened its much-awaited City Centre II which has a mall and a five-star hotel and was built at a cost of Rs.275 crore.
“The total investment for the mall was to the tune of Rs.175 crore and Rs.100 crore was for the hotel,” Harshavardhan Neotia, chairman, Ambuja Realty said at a press conference here.
City Centre II, a multi-utility urban infrastructure project, took three years for its completion. It is built on five acres – the mall is on 350,000 square feet and the hotel on 150,000 square feet. The existing City Centre is in the satellite township of Salt Lake.
“We expect a turnover of Rs.300-400 crore once the mall is fully operational,” Neotia said. The mall will be fully operational by the end of the year.
He said the entire project will be able to generate employment for 3,000 people.
The site, at Rajarhat in the northeastern fringes of the city and 3 km from the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, would provide a boost to the hotel business.
“The hotel will definitely benefit due to its proximity to the airport. It will be able to house transit traffic. The mall will cater to the people of north Kolkata largely,” Neotia said.
Ambuja has entered into a management contract with Swissotel for the five-star hotel.
Asked how much footfall he expects in the mall at a time immediately after the global economic meltdown and its subsequent effect on the country, Neotia said: “These facilities are built for long time and it is expected to stay for 30-40 years. I am hopeful it will perform well in the coming days.”
Three more City Centres are coming up – one in Siliguri by April 2010, Haldia in 2011 and in Chhattisgarh in 2011.