Land under government possession, arguably the highest in Kerala, offers a fertile ground to raise precious financial resources through its efficient and imaginative use.
There is no comprehensive data on the total area of land under government possession.
But the manner in which it puts to use this land lacks economic rationality, an expert panel has said. As such, the State is experiencing acute scarcity of land.
Inflow of remittances and concomitant rise in disposable income levels has resulted in exponential rise in land prices over the years. The expert panel proposed two ways of optimally using vast government land for mobilising the resources.
Low rentals The high land prices mean that asset value of government land is also high. The lease rent levied should reflect this and it should be periodically revised. But this is not exactly the case. GO(P) No 126/04/RD dated 14-5-2004 had provided for revision of these rates in every three years, but this was not acted on until 2012.
Land value skyrocketed in the last nine years, but this is not reflected in the revised lease rent rates. There is also no significant difference in the lease rates for public, charitable and commercial purposes.
As a case in point, the panel analysed the distribution of prime government land leased out to various organisations in Thiruvananthapuram city.
Private enterprises Religious/communal/secular organisations have taken on long-term lease prime land worth crores of rupees paying either no lease rent or negligible amounts.
There is a tremendous potential for additional resource mobilisation by revising the lease rentals here, taking into account the sharp increase in the price of land.
Long-term lease may be considered for constructing private commercial buildings on the condition that a portion should be made available free of cost for government offices.