The Centre has asked major ports, which possess 2.64 lakh acres of land, to come out with a plan to leverage their land banks for bolstering business prospects.
The development comes close on heels of the Centre unveiling new land policy guidelines for 12 major ports, under which they can lease their land to commercial projects.
"We have asked all major ports to come out with a land use plan. Land could be leased only in accordance with the land use plan up to a maximum cumulative period of 30 years, with the approval of the Port Trust Board," a Shipping Ministry official said.
Under the policy guidelines, land can be allotted through licensing in custom bond areas by inviting competitive bidding, while land outside the custom bond areas can be leased through auction.
The official said renewals will be granted through the Empowered Committee mechanism subject to the approval of the government and renewals will be limited to a maximum cumulative period of 99 years.
As per the guidelines, in cases where the lessee may require land for capital intensive investment like refineries etc, the port may at its option decide to fix the tenure of lease for a period which is more than 30 years.
"Such proposals are to be submitted with the recommendations of the Board to the Empowered Committee for its approval. The Port in its land-use plan should identify land which can be allotted on long-term lease basis, i.E. For a tenure of 30 years and beyond," the policy says.
The policy also provides for formation of a Land Allotment Committee by the Port Trust Board consisting of Deputy Chairman of the Port, and Heads of Departments of Finance, Estate and Traffic for finalising reserve price.
The Centre on January 16 had unveiled the new land policy saying so far, the land utilisation has not been optimum and often yielded lesser returns and that the thrust of the new policy has been on linking the value of land with prevailing market rates.
The new policy guidelines for land management are part of the ongoing process of port reforms and liberalisation.
While major ports, owned by the Centre operate in a comparatively more regulated environment, the non-major ports, comprising state ports and private ports enjoy substantial degree of flexibility.
The 12 major ports in India - Kandla, Mumbai, JNPT, Marmugao, New Managlore, Cochin, Chennai, Ennore, V O Chidambarnar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia) handle approximately 61 per cent of cargo traffic.
During 2013-14, it was planned to augment port capacity by 220 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) through 30 port projects.
Out of these 20 port projects, with a capacity of 100 MTPA have already been approved.
