Consultant to assess land in MP for Greemach

The Madhya Pradesh government has asked its industrial facilitation arm Madhya Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation (MPSIDC) to rope in an independent consultant to assess, identify and determine the land area required for the proposed air cargo hub of Mumbai-based Greemach Infrastructure Equipment & Projects Ltd.

It was reported earlier that the district collector had earmarked almost 400 acres near Bhopal airport for the Indian Institute of Science, which may force Greemach to pull out of its proposed air-cargo complex and maintenance base at Bhopal airport.

The company has proposed to invest Rs 1,000 crore for creating the facility, similar to the one aviation major Boeing is creating at Nagpur.

The board has also asked the state information technology department to allocate a certain portion of land to Greemach for its proposed infotech special economic zone from the available 212 acres of land.

"In a recent meeting, the Project Clearance and Implementation Board asked MPSIDC to rope in Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation or any independent consultant to determine the required area for a cargo hub and allocate the land. The land identified for the purpose should be transferred to a nodal agency that can later transfer it to the company for the project. The issue will be discussed in the next meeting of the board," said a government source.

The district collector had demanded Rs 33 crore (10 per cent of the total cost) as advance of the total cost of the land, which is 324 acres. Thus, the government is charging more than Rs 1 crore per acre for industries.

However, a company source had told Business Standard that more than Rs 20-25 lakh per acre will escalate the cost of the project. Madhya Pradesh Audyogik Kendra Vikas Nigam, a subsidiary of State Industrial Development Corporation, had demanded that the land area to be transferred to it.

The district administration is under fire for forceful eviction of farmers from Barkheda Bondar village for land acquisition at Rs 1.10 lakh per acre. The land will be swapped with another area in possession of the Indian Army so that it can be used for airport expansion.

Greemach had, earlier last year, requested the Project Clearance and Implementation Board to support it in land acquisition.