Port trusts likely to be shipped out of excess land

NEW DELHI: The government is likely to soon ask port trusts to part with the excess land owned by them for development of housing and other amenities such as shopping arcades and recreational centres.

According to estimates, the properties, spread over 2,800 acres of land, are worth Rs 7,000 crore. The Centre and the respective state governments are holding discussions with Mumbai and Cochin Port Trust for vacating the excess land owned by them in a time-bound manner. The land is proposed to be developed on a public-private-partnership model with real estate developers.

The government is also considering utilising a portion of the land with the Mumbai Port Trust for the proposal to develop the international financial hub in the city. The finance ministry is currently studying various modalities for the development of the ambitious IFC project.

“We have two proposals with us for Mumbai Port Trust. We could either utilise the excess land for development of real estate or it could be used for setting up the proposed IFC. The state governments would be asked to prepare master plans for the land within the port trusts,” a senior government official said.

According to sources, the Maharashtra government is also considering allocating the Mumbai Port Trust the required land in some other part of the state in case the land allocation results in a shortage of land with the Trust.

A three-member committee has also been formed under the ministry of shipping to oversee the security preparedness of the ports to avoid security concerns for the upcoming projects in future. A few months back, the home ministry had indicated security concerns in port activities.

The Maharashtra as well as the Kerala governments are in talks with private real estate developers for converting the trust owned lands into mini-townships. A competitive bidding process would be followed for the purpose.

The Mumbai Port Trust is currently on a expansion mode with an offshore container terminal project, deepening the harbour wall berths to bring in bigger ships along with a state-of-art cruise terminal to cash in on the growing international cruise traffic.