Kolkata Port Trust to lease out 1,600 acres
Kolkata Port Trust will put 1,600 acres of unused land, mainly in Kolkata and Haldia, up for 30-year leases in the next six month.
The port trust has over 10,000 acres of land in West Bengal and uses 43 per cent of it for its operations. Another 3,400 acres have been put on lease. “In the next six months, we will be putting 80-90 plots of 17-20 acres up for 30-year leases,” the port’s chairman, Vinit Kumar, said. This will effectively use up the entire landholding of Kolkata Port Trust.
The port trust will offer two methods of lease payment, a pre-contracted annual payment subject to revision every 5-6 years and full payment upfront. “Thus we cannot estimate how much money we are going to make out of the lease deals,” the official added.
Kolkata Port Trust earns ~2.54 billion as annual rent and premium on leased land. Its annual revenue expenditure to maintain the land and buildings is ~485.7 million. Bidding for the freehold land will take place in tranches.
A pre-bid meeting to lease 30 plots held last week was attended by 60 people.
“We had discussions with interested bidders. The main issue was the use of the plots,” Kumar said. Prospective bidders are primarily interested in setting up offices, warehouses, and medical and educational institutions. Asked if a 30-year lease was adequate to draw bidding interest, Kumar said, “Keeping an office or running a hospital for 30 years is good enough.”
The Centre has mandated that port trust land can be leased for a maximum period of 30 years. “The lease term is not suitable for residential projects. It depends on the ministry to come up with a longer lease term for residential projects,” an official said.