The on Wednesday approved the setting up of the National Land Monetization Corporation (NLMC) to monetise surplus land and building assets of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) and other agencies linked to the Government.
NLMC will have an initial authorised share capital of Rs 5,000 crore and paid-up share capital of Rs 150 crore.
Railways, Telecommunications and DEFENCE are among key ministries holding the maximum surplus land, while parcels of several CPSEs are in prime areas with good potential.
The NLMC will own, hold, manage and monetise surplus land and building assets of CPSEs under closure and surplus non-core land assets of Government-owned CPSEs under strategic Disinvestment. This will speed up the closure process of CPSEs and smoothen the Strategic Disinvestment process of Government-owned CPSEs.
While the Government had set a target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore through disinvestment in its Budget estimates in 2021-22, the target has been revised to Rs 78,000 crore for the year 2022-23, the target is Rs 65,000 crore.
NLMC will hire professionals from the private sector as in the case of similar entities like the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and Invest India.
According to available Government data, the total land available with the Railways is 4.78 lakh hectares (11.80 lakh acres) of which 4.27 lakh hectares is under operational and allied usage while around 0.51 lakh hectare (1.25 lakh acres) is vacant.