[vc_row]In about a month’s time, Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) may receive a go-ahead from the Union cabinet to lease out land for townships on a publicprivate partnership (PPP) mode. The port authority will then draw up a township policy on the lines of Mumbai Port Trust before inviting bids from realtors.
In August, 2016, KoPT chairman M T Krishna Babu had announced plans to lease out nearly 420 acres of prime land in Kolkata to realtors.
“We had sent the proposal to the Centre and it was discussed by an inter-ministerial committee. There were some queries that we answered. The document will now move to the Union cabinet, which is expected to take a decision in a month’s time,” Babu told TOI on Tuesday.
While land for commercial purposes is leased out for 30 years, KoPT proposes to lease out property for residential use for 99 years to make the proposals more attractive. The basic idea is to raise money for KoPT’s pension fund. The port of Kolkata has nearly 22,500 pensioners, the highest among all major ports in the country.Among the plots being considered for township develop ment are Portland Park Quarters Complex, Chetla Quarters (including Boat Canal and Durgapur Siding), Remount Road Quarters Complex, Taratala Labour Colony , New Howrah Bridge Quarters Comp lex and Brooklyn Quarters Complex.
Despite the slowdown after demonetisation, particularly in the real estate sector, KoPT officials believe there will be high demand for plots since they are at prime locations.The demand for commercial plots has been extremely encouraging for the port authority .Recently , 90 plots were offered to bidders.
“Of the 90 plots, we received bids for 69. This shows that there is demand for commercial plots as they are strategically located. We shall start work on the residential plots after the Centre clears the proposal and we have a township policy in place. In locations like Portland Park, we shall retain the portions where bungalows of our senior officers are located and lease out the remaining area,” said Santanu Mitra, OSD (Land), KoPT.
KoPT plans to lease out 2,724 acres of prime property in Kolkata and Haldia. The port owns 4,576 acres in Kolkata and 6,367 acres in Haldia. Of this, 2,080 acres in Kolkata and 2,100 acres in Haldia are used for port activity . An additional 1,780 acres in Kolkata and 2,253 acres in Haldia have already been leased out, leaving 710 acres in Kolkata and 2,014 acres in Haldia.
Source: The Times of India[/vc_column_text][/vc_row]
