Kolkata: West Bengal government will set up an IT hub with private partnership in the south-east suburb of Behala in the metropolis, state Industries and IT Minister Partha Chatterjee said here on Sunday.

"Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has given instructions to look for land at Taratala or adjacent areas for this purpose," Chatterjee said at a function here.

"Techno India Group, Webel and the IT department of the state will jointly set up this hub," he said.

"Creation of jobs is the priority of the Mamata Banerjee government and there are a lot of job potentials in the IT sector," Chatterjee said.

He said the government was also on the look out for land to set up a software and harwdware technology park.

"Talks are on with Intel for setting up the hardware technology park," he said.

He also said that connectivity between the south-eastern suburbs of Behala with the central parts of the city would be much improved with the introduction of the 16.7 km Joka-BBD Bag metro railway. "Services between Joka and Taratala will begin within a year or two in the first phase," he said.

The foundation for the Rs 2619 crore project was laid by President Pratibha Patil on September 22, 2010 and work began on December 29 the same year.