October 29, 2013
Kolkata to get India`s Tallest World Trade Centre
If everything goes as planned, Kolkata will soon get a World Trade Centre (WTC) which would be the tallest building in the city.
The World Trade Centre Association (WTCA) has approached the state government for a plot of land at Salt Lake to build the trade centre and the government has given its in-principle nod, subject to a clearance from the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
WTCA is a non-profit organisation that promotes expansion of trade amongst 91 member countries and issues licenses to business towers for use of the name World Trade Centre. The WTCs typically houses the offices of export and import firms and other trading entities of world repute.
At present, there are 316 WTCs in the world, of which two are in India located at Mumbai and Bangalore.
WTCA CEO Eric R Dahl and Mr Pawan Kumar Dhoot of the Mumbai-based Dhoot Group today called on state Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim at the Writers` Buildings to discuss the project. Dhoot Group is interested in building the WTC in Kolkata.
“We have shown them two plots at Salt Lake and Rajarhat for the building of the proposed WTC. They liked a five-acre plot at Salt Lake. We have asked them to submit a detailed project report within a one-and-a-half-month. The location is close to N S C Bose Airport and hence it will require a mandatory clearance from the AAI to ensure that it does not infringe the city`s air route. As a matter of convention, a WTC has to be the tallest tower in a city,“ Mr Hakim told reporters at the Writers` Buildings.
The 36-storey South City housing complex on Prince Anwar Shah Road in south Kolkata is at present the tallest building in Kolkata.
The article was originally published in The Statesman.
