Kol to have a leather mall near Alipore Jail Museum
Times of India | 19 July 2024
Kolkata: The city will soon have a leather mall developed by Hidco at Alipore, former chief secretary and chief adviser to the CM, Alapan Bandopadhyay, said on Thursday.
Addressing the media at Nabanna after a review meeting on Kolkata Leather Complex, chaired by CM Mamata Banerjee, he said the mall would showcase export-quality leather products. “It would come up near Alipore Jail museum,” he added.
Bandopadhyay said while 50% of the mall will be for leather goods, the rest will be for sari, handicrafts and other products from Bengal’s small and cottage industries.
A source said that the mall would come up on a 2-lakh-sqft area and apart from importers, retail buyers would also be allowed at the mall.
Bandopadhyay said that 500 tanneries were working at Kolkata Leather Complex. While 187 more tanneries will come up there, there will be 139 footwear units at an additional investment of Rs 10,000 crore. A total of nearly Rs 25,000 crore has already been invested in the leather complex, Bandopadhyay said.
“We are expecting an additional employment for 2.5 lakh people in the complex. Currently, 5 lakh people are working there,” he added.
Ramesh Kumar Juneja, president of Calcutta Leather Complex Tanners’ Association, said that a footwear park will also be set up on 159 acres of land in the complex, which will house the new footwear units.
“A lot of people are showing interest in the footwear park and we hope that the number of companies may go up to 300,” he said. Juneja added that a shoe company from Taiwan had evinced interest to set up a unit in the complex. “It will manufacture 10,000 pairs of shoes every day,” he added.