A space with smart infrastructure where IT professionals can live and work round the clock is on offer at an affordable rate in Action Area II in New Town.
The three-storeyed space, named Smart Connect, was inaugurated on Tuesday. Spread across two acres, diagonally opposite the Westside store on Major Arterial Road, it has two building blocks-one for co-living and the other for co-working.
“We are calling it Smart Connect as it offers a connection between those who work and those who stay. We have got great results with the work pods we created as co-working spaces in all three action areas, called Happy Works. Co-working spaces have come up in other parts of Kolkata also, including Sector V. But there was no co-living facility for young people who come to work in the IT sector from the districts or neighbouring states. They look for accommodation as paying guests in adjacent areas like Gauranganagar or Hatiara as they cannot afford rooms in Salt Lake and New Town. A co-living space will offer amenities like common kitchen. If they stay close to their workplace it will reduce green emission as well,” said Debashis Sen, managing director of Hidco at the inauguration.
Minister Firhad Hakim (centre) releases the brochure for Smart Connect.
The co-living block comprises 84 air-conditioned furnished single bedrooms with wi-fi, smart TV, kitchenette and attached bathroom with geyser. Each 186sq ft room comes with a balcony, which is exclusive in some cases or to be shared between two rooms. The rooms are to be rented either on a per day basis at Rs 999 plus 12 per cent GST or on a monthly basis at Rs 14,999 plus 12 per cent GST. Breakfast is complimentary. A multi-cuisine kitchen would provide round-the-clock room service. There is an in-house laundry facility and a gym too.
The co-working block has 30,000 sq ft of rentable space that can be customised according to the needs of startups, technology firms, research centres etc towards which it is targeted. The rent is decided module wise, with an individual module size ranging from 540sq ft to 1,250sq ft. The floor space is flexible and can accommodate around 250 workers.
Urban development and municipal affairs minister Firhad Hakim inaugurated the facility. “Our government’s focus is on the IT and the medical sectors. These are the jobs of fish-eating people like us, not so much of chhatu-eating folk. Due to the earlier regime’s opposition to computerisation, we had missed the bus and the IT industry moved down south. All our families have boys and girls working in the IT sector in Bangalore or Hyderabad. We need to create the infrastructure to bring them back,” he said.
A room in the co-living block. Sudeshna Banerjee
The Bengal Silicon Valley IT hub was right behind the Smart Connect facility, he pointed out. “This space will provide a boost to IT start-ups. If they are working with clients on the other side of the globe, they need to be connected late at night as well, which will not be possible after hours from their rented home away from the workplace. Here they can hold meetings at night and retire to bed inside the same complex without a bother,” he added.
Local MLA Tapash Chatterjee was also present at the opening.