Kolkata to install its first helipad on 33 storey skyscraper

The city of joy is set to get its first helipad in its central business district. The project, which is being planned by a private company, would not only address a logistical issue, but would also give riverfront development the much-needed boost it needs. There isn't a helipad yet in the financial district. The helipad at the race track is used by those who fly in and out of the city by helicopter (mostly VIPs and VVIPs). A helipad is also located in New Town, on the eastern outskirts of the city, atop a private hotel. Bengal Bonded Warehouse Limited (BBWL), a two-century-old company, is developing the facility in the center of the city at its Strand Road project. “The helipad will be over 8,000 sq.ft, a first of its kind in the central business district,” said Mahendra Kumar Jalan, chairman emeritus of Keventer, which owns the company. “We are investing Rs 50 million for the helipad on the terrace of the project,” he added. Jalan claimed that the proposed helipad had KMC's approval. Three years ago, the Airport Authority of India approved. The project could be finished in a few years if everything goes according to plan, according to Jalan. ‘Enormous social and Economic benefits’ On its riverfront property, Bengal Bonded Warehouse Limited (BBWL) owns about 2.7 acres (25, Netaji Subhas Road, the formal name of Strand Road). The buildings on the property date back more than a century. “KMC, invoking a recently introduced provision in building regulations, is granting extra floor area ration to recover costs of development incurred by developers for rehabilitating existing occupiers. This project would be the first to be sanctioned by KMC under this scheme,” said Mahendra Kumar Jalan, chairman emeritus of Keventer, which owns the company. The redevelopment, according to Jalan, would also be consistent with the government's larger plans for enhancing the riverfront. “The social and economic benefits to people and the government would be enormous,” he said. According to Jalan, they intended to build a 33-story structure with a total built-up area of roughly 1 million square feet in the plot's middle. The building will have a common base with a parking lot up to the seventh floor before splitting into two towers. “It will have all modern features- 20% of power would come from a solar system placed on the roof and a part of the façade; there would be e-vehicle charging points and an ‘HVAC system.’ Through which heat exchange is carried out thorugh river water, without affecting the ecological balance,” he added. See also: Delhi NCR to have bullet trains and helitaxi services soon Tender to be floated for setting up heliport in Noida’s Sector 151 A