L&T plans Rs 4,500 crore investment, data centre in Bengal

Kolkata: Larsen & Toubro (L&T) plans to invest more than Rs 4,500 crore in Bengal over the next few years, with chairman S N Subrahmanyan expected to meet CM Suvendu Adhikari next month to discuss a series of investment proposals.Dip Kishore Sen, adviser to the L&T chairman and managing director, told TOI that Subrahmanyan is likely to hold a formal meeting with the chief minister in the third week of July after an earlier informal interaction. Sen was in Kolkata on Friday for the BCC&I summit.L&T is nearing completion of the first phase of its software park at Silicon Valley in New Town. Two more phases are planned, taking the total investment in the project to around Rs 2,500 crore.“The total investment would be Rs 2,500 crore and around 25,000 jobs will be generated,” Sen said.The company is also planning a tier-III data centre in Kolkata and will apply for land for the project. The proposed 13MW facility will involve an investment of around Rs 2,000 crore.Sen said L&T had executed several landmark projects in Bengal, including the convention centre and the AJC Bose Road flyover, and was now looking to deepen its engagement with the state.

Meanwhile, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) CEO Navanit Narayan said the company’s Rs 6,000-crore phenol-acetone project was nearing completion and was expected to be commissioned before Puja. The project would pave the way for further downstream investments, he said.Berger Paints MD Abhijit Roy said the company was awaiting the state’s new industrial policy before stepping up investment in its Panagarh project.