Rajarhat Financial Hub update

The West Bengal government is all set to take the ambitious financial hub project in Rajarhat-New Town to the next stage.
With applications from six financial and banking institutes, the authorities have now floated tenders to begin work on the second phase of the financial hub. After opening the bids that ended on October 31, Hidco received offers from United Bank of India (UBI), United Commercial Bank (UCO), National Insurance Company (NIC), West Bengal Financial Corporation (WBFC), West Bengal Infrastructure Development and Financial Corporation (WBIDFC) and SREI. The authorities are working to scrutinize the bids.
Earlier, Allahabad Bank and SBI had already taken land near the hub. A few institutions like LIC Housing and Bank of India have requested for a little more time.
In the second phase, the authorities want to hand over six vacant plots having an area of 12.5 acres on lease-hold basis for 99 years. The last date for submitting applications is January 31.
Hidco also plans to build an iconic building at a prime location of the central business district in New Town. The authorities have floated an expression of interest to invite best-in-class architect consultancy firm for this job.
Since chief minister Mamata Banerjee had launched the financial hub project earlier this year, the state government has been lobbying hard to attract investments. However, the initial response was very lukewarm. The authorities had only received one application after floating tenders and so they decided to extend the time for inviting applications.
Urban development minister Firhad Hakim, along with Hidco officials, went to Delhi and Mumbai to meet representatives of different financial institutions and convince them to invest. The authorities plan to hold more such meetings in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Singapore to highlight the hub.