Tuesday, May 19, 2009

BPTP TO DELAY CONSTRUCTION OF COMPLEX AT IT SEZ SITES

Moumita Bakshi Chatterjee, New Delhi, May 18, 2009
The Hindu Business Line

With global economic crisis hitting demand for IT and BPO services, real estate company BPTP Ltd plans to defer the construction of complexes in its four IT SEZs, for about 18 months. The company, however, is not planning to withdraw from these projects and will start the basic infrastructure development within these SEZs located at Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noida and Greater Noida.

“We see nothing before 18 months,” Kabul Chawla, Managing Director of BPTP Ltd, said when asked if the company would delay its SEZ projects in wake of the weak demand in the tech space.

However, while the construction of buildings will start only once the market picks up, BPTP would commence work on planning and building the basic site infrastructure.

“This means that we will start the infrastructure work, the layout, and create plotted development…We will start these projects in some manner linked to basic site infrastructure, but we will build the actual complexes only close to demand revival. We will bring the site to a state of readiness before we start the construction of buildings,” Chawla said.

The company has no plans to withdraw from the projects. “We will wait to see how the IT policies of US administration pan-out. It is important that companies look at new businesses. So we have to see how they are planning their expansion,” he said.

It may be recalled that BPTP Group had bagged 95 acres of prime commercial land at Noida for Rs 5,006 crore in early-2008, marking the largest realty deal in India by its sheer value.

But the company approached Noida Authority a few months ago to surrender the land after it was unable to complete the full payment. It decided to retain a smaller 22-acre land at the site, and is now all set to begin construction of a 5-star hotel and an office complex.

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