With the book fair being shoved to a seedy outpost of the metropolis, Kolkata booklovers now have quite a news to gorge on. The city is planning to have a book mall, ''Varna Parichay'', the very first of its kind, spread over 7,80,000 sqft designed by the ace architect Hafeez Contractor. The book mall will replace the 90-year old municipal market on College Street, the cultural focal point of Kolkata.
According to company sources, the five floor mall (around 5,00,000 sq ft) of the seven-storey block would comprise an auction space for rare books and manuscripts run by an agency, where the buyers and sellers can interact regularly, along with a host of other features never before seen in the country under a single roof. The mall would also include a coffee shop, library and a multi-level car parking facility.
As per the estimates, the establishment cost and the other expenses amount to Rs 158 crore approximately. The project is being developed in a public-private partnership- a fifty-fifty joint venture, between the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Bengal Shelter Housing Development Ltd. The latter plans to finish the construction work by April 2010.
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