Recently a government official
mentioned that a search was on for 450 odd acres of land for the
proposed NIT. This requirement was getting to be very difficult to
meet because the conditions were stringent, even the area earlier ear
marked for the proposed sports city was not good enough.
The question is, who decides how much
land is required for a particular project and do these people factor
in the area that they are looking at. The fact that IIT Mumbai has
1000 acres or that BITS Goa is built on something similar forms the
basis of such indents for land? Is availability not a factor, can Goa
and and other State we looked at in the same way?
The land given to IIT in the early 60's
was in an area in Mumbai where at that time no one would have
believed was habitable. If you pass by IIT Mumbai, you will see low
rise housing occupying what is now prime property. Surely if IIT
Mumbai was being set up today, it would have been done with a much
smaller piece of land but with the same standard of excellence.
Infact across the road from IIT, Hirandani's have built tall
buildings housing many more people in less land compared to the IIT.
BITS Goa, developed the new campus keeping in mind the fact that the
land had been left vacant for so long it was a sitting target for
acquisition. Magarpatta township in Pune, is an example of win win
acquisition, it is teeming with housing, schools and offices, it
occupies 450 acres.
So if we need to set up an institute of
excellence, will 50 acres or even less not be sufficient. The max no
of students would be 5000 at the peak, assuming a teacher student
ratio of 1:20, another 1000, another 1000 for support, giving a total
of 7000 people housed in 50 acres. The numbers are on the higher side
but even then it allows sufficient space. Some top institutes around
the world will boast of being built on a much smaller footprint. So
those planning the NIT should factor in Goa's paucity of land and
come up with innovative designs that will require less land and still
enable it to be a center par excellence. That way there will be less
or no resistance from locals.
The continued acquisition of land for
industry is causing angst among land owners. There is no doubt that
land is required for industry. One possibility is that far sighted
planners are acquiring and keeping lands for future industry. However
this is not the case, the acquisition is for setting up industry
today. This despite the fact that there are already acquired and
allotted lands lying unused. Should utilising these vacant unused
factories or buildings be a priority. The acquired land in industrial
estates is allotted at concessional rates to entrepreneurs to start
industry which will in turn employ people gainfully and contribute to
the tax kitty which in turn will help development. Keeping them
locked is not helping the objective.
Therefore the GIDC which is the nodal
agency should consider ways and means to make these unit operational.
One way would be to consider applying a non operational tax on all
closed units so that they are forced to either restart or transfer in
favour of someone who has an idea and wants the space. After all a
closed unit is a white elephant, it neither contributes to the
exchequer nor employs anyone. Under the watch of the previous
Government, because the focus was on individual rather than the
State, all industrial land was usurped by traders and utilised to
store cement or steel and even tiles. Cost of land in the cities was
far higher than even the unofficial price in industrial estates. In
Margao for example if a sq mt was 20000/- + in the Verna Industrial
Estate the unofficial price was just 4000/sqm. Cheap, if one was
looking for godown space, but expensive if one was thinking of
setting up a factory. The net result we have a corporate office,
godowns by the dozen and even a bungalow in the industrial estate.
Maybe it is time to reconsider what we
are acquiring land for, rather than say for only manufacturing we
should also include services, IT/ITES financial services, where a
single building will accommodate many more employees and contribute
more tax revenues. This would be more efficient use of scarce goan
land.
For Goa and goans, land is a scarce
resource and should be treated that way. Every effort has to be made
to get maximum value using minimum land. We always wish and look at
Singapore as a model to be emulated. Singapore's educational
institutions are now being recognised around the world and they do
not have 450 acres each. The industrial activity in Singapore is
something to be talked about and it coexists happily with the
services industry. It is time our political setup began to think more
in terms of Goa and not “self or party” Its time people start
asking how development can be achieved using limited resources
efficiently. If this happens, Goa will be a better land.
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