Government Formulating New Policy For Better Land Management Of Major Ports

With the aim of generating revenue from land parcels available with the Shipping Ministry, a new policy is being formulated for use and management of the township lands of major ports.

Currently, about 5,400 hectares of land is under occupation of unauthorised tenants near various ports across the country.

The proposed policy aims to unlock huge value for the government which would use this land parcel for development of towns like smart city as it has a huge potential of redevelopment.

For this it is essential to have new guidelines for lease/licence of the township land of major ports as there is no concept of sale of such land.

The existing policy formulated in 2014 could not attract any industry because of its focus on getting highest revenue for land instead of focusing on higher cargo.

There is a need for ease of doing business and transparent procedures of land allotment in these areas for the Shipping Ministry for the better use of land owned by major ports.

Besides, Shipping Ministry, the focus of the government is to unlock value and generate revenues from the land parcels available with various ministries.

Accordingly, efforts are being made to develop infrastructure and simplify procedures for enabling meaningful utilisation of land parcels with reasonable rate of returns.

The Shipping Ministry is in the process of developing policy guidelines for utilisation of these land parcels for port-led industrialisation, ease of doing business and township development.

It is likely to generate capital for the government as part of asset management and resource generating for investing in modernisation of core infrastructure of the country.