Calcutta, Feb. 5: With the March 2007 land-handover deadline for Infosys’s city hub now sure to be missed, the IT department is looking at an alternative site in Jagdishpur mouza near the Rajarhat canal.

For once, the delay is not due to land protests but on the issue of price and what many see as government bungling over meeting the IT firm’s requirements.

The showpiece Infosys project was to occupy 100 acres in a 300-acre Rajarhat Infocity, which was to come up opposite Vedic Village about 10 km from the airport. The job was being handled by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC).

Now the IT department has started the process of acquiring 330 acres for the entire Infocity in Jagdishpur by stopping registration by other buyers.

“We are looking at alternative locations as the Vedic Village land is unlikely to be ready by March 2007,” an IT department source said. “Nor would the Jagdishpur land be ready by that deadline, but since it is under our department’s direct supervision, we could speed things up.”

The Infosys project has been languishing for the last nine to 10 months, with the WBIDC unable to come up even with the detailed satellite map the company had asked for. Things slowed down further when, in January, the corporation dropped project consultant IL&FS in favour of the state-run Institute of Environmental and Social Management.

Infosys’s other problem was the price of around Rs 1.2 crore an acre, though it’s lower than the Rs 2.16 crore in Rajarhat proper.

Detailed maps of Jagdishpur are already available. The land, too, is cheaper at Rs 50-60 lakh an acre but with a rider — the company has to foot the bill for its development.

Infosys is still to receive a formal proposal from the government. “We have asked the Bengal government to look at prices offered to us in other states. These range from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 30 lakh,” top Infosys executive Kris Gopalakrishnan had earlier said.

IT minister Debesh Das and the IT secretary are visiting Hyderabad and Mumbai this week and could meet Infosys officials, the IT source said. “Our concern is time. If the Vedic Village land can be made ready for a quicker handover, we have no problems.”

The IT department is also hunting for land in Dankuni and Baruipur, and by the side of the road being built by the Salim Group between Barasat and Kukrahati, for other projects. In Hyderabad, Das said land for the semiconductor park has been identified near IIT Kharagpur.