The Kolkata Port Trust (KPT) is looking to lease out a large of its area in order to boost its profit. It owns around 4,500 acre (18 sq km) of area of which it directly uses about 2,000 acre. KPT has hired property consultant JLL India to survey and digitise records of its land bank.
The focus is on improving operations, augmenting capacity and also diversification. Its total holdings are roughly the size of the derelict London Docklands, before bits of it were sold off starting around 1970 and today house the Canary Wharf development.
The company has already rented out some land to companies including Hindustan Unilever, ITC and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) with a rent income of about Rs 300 crore (USD 42 million). KPT is investing Rs 800 crore over the next two years to boost its annual cargo-handling capacity to 80 million tonne from 70 million tonne now.