E-Paper
Allotment of land to Flipkart in Haryana’s Manesar hits a hurdle
Deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala, who holds the industries and commerce portfolio, has sought a clarification on the allotment price of ₹3.09 crore
The allotment of 140 acres to e-commerce company, Flipkart, in Gurugram’s Manesar by the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) has hit a hurdle.
Flipkart was allotted a site in October last year at the warehousing and transport hub in Patli Hazipur, Manesar, close to the industrial hub of IMT, Manesar, for setting up its largest fulfilling centre in Asia, having covered an area of 3 million square feet.
The land was allotted at ₹3.09 crore per acre at bare shell cost. This meant that the HSIIDC would not provide external or internal infrastructure for the site and creating it would be the responsibility of the allottee.
The allotment was approved by the executive empowered committee under the chairmanship of the then principal secretary to chief minister, Rajesh Khullar.
Allotment on hold after Dushyant’s intervention
While Flipkart had deposited about ₹22 crore as earnest money, the allotment process was put on hold after deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala, who holds charge of industries and commerce portfolio, intervened to seek clarifications on the allotment price of ₹3.09 crore per acre.
Subsequently, the Haryana Enterprise Promotion Board (HEPB) had asked the corporation to put a few more warehousing sites for e-auction to explore the market.
“The minister was of view that pricing for this land was low and the HSIIDC needs to dive deeper,’’ said an official. Dushyant was not available for a comment in this regard.
Zero response to newly floated sites create dilemma
While last month the HSIIDC had put up four warehousing sites of comparatively smaller sizes for auction, officials said that there was zero response.
The last date of registration and deposit of earnest money by the bidders was February 3. “If these sites had fetched a higher price, then the allotment price for Flipkart would also have been revised. But not a single bid was registered,’’ said an official.
All four sites were advertised for auction at approximately the same reserve price as Flipkart’s. The sites though were way smaller – 7.47 acre, 8.44 acre, 16.68 acre and 25.29 acre - as compared to the site allotted to Flipkart.
Officials said that for the past one year, the corporation has advertised the warehousing sites four times without any success.
“The first time the allotment price was about ₹6 crore per acre. This included providing internal and external infrastructure by the HSIIDC. The second time the price was reduced to about ₹4 crore per acre, but this was without any commitment to provide internal infrastructure. The third time it was decided to further reduce the price to about ₹3.09 crore at bare shell cost. This meant that internal and external infrastructure will not be provided. And the latest floatation where no one responded was also on similar lines,’’ said an official.
Officials said that the HEPB, headed by the CM, will have to decide on the future course of action since there is a deadlock now.
Firms cite economic restraints
Officials said that they had held multiple rounds of meetings with companies who would be interested in buying the warehousing sites, but they cited pricing as a major restraint. That’s why, they said, it was decided to sell these sites as bare shell.
