Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) wants to give its Nepean Sea Road 1.54 acres (67082.4 square feet) land parcel for 60-year lease.
An official from MSRDC confirmed that the decision has been taken only after securing required permissions from the state government, which has allowed the use of the money thus generated to repay the liabilities accruing from the Mumbai Nagpur Super Communication Expressway, also called the 'Samruddhi Mahamarg.'
A government resolution has been issued by the State in this regard, he informed. Giving the rationale, the official said, "Even the Mumbai-Pune expressway took some time to attract traffic.
The Samruddhi corridor too will take some time; therefore in the interim the money raised through the lease will be used to repay the loan amount taken for the construction of Samruddhi Mahamarg.
The Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway is one of the pet projects of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis which is being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 55,000 crore.
The super communication expressway will bring down the Mumbai- Nagpur journey time to eight hours. Usually, the government leases property for 30 years; however, in this case, the MSRDC proposes to lease the property for a period of 60 years.
The official explained, "Whoever will be investing in the project will be spending a lot of money. Therefore, the decision to lease the property for 60 years has been taken, to make it viable.’’
However, the authority is not inclined to hazard a guess about the kind of revenue that will be generated through this piece of land.
The official commented," An expression of interest has been floated on August 23 which will make us understand which are the probable bidders interested in the Napean Sea Road property.
A pre-discussion meet will be held with them. Only after this, the MSRDC appointed consultants will direct the authority on the reserve price of the land; this will happen at the time of calling a final tender for leasing the property."
As per market rates, the lease of even a 250 sq. feet office space on Nepean Sea Road would cost approximately Rs 1.3 lakh.
