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| RCF plans to unlock value in Mumbai real estate |
| PB Jayakumar / Mumbai Sep 27, 2009, 00:55 IST |
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Likely to capitalise 100-150 acres out of 800 acres in Sion-Chembur region.
Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF), which owns close to 800 acres in the Sion-Chembur region in the heart of Mumbai, is planning to re-develop its residential areas with high-rise towers to unlock the value of its real estate assets.
The public sector fertilizer major, whose residential colonies occupy about 300 acres, has appointed a consultant to design a blue-print to re-develop a part of the area with two-three residential towers.
“RCF will shift employees currently residing at the RCF colony to these towers and will offer the rest of the apartments to other public sector companies such as Indian Oil or Bharat Petroleum,” RCF Chairman and Managing Director US Jha told Business Standard.
He pointed out that most of the buildings in RCF’s housing colonies were old and in a bad condition.
“Restoration of these buildings will cost close to Rs 300 crore. We are planning to optimise the value of this land by building towers for our own use and for the use of other public sector undertakings,” Jha said. He further noted that a part of the proposed high-rise buildings could also be used to house IT firms and even be converted into an IT park.
The consultant will provide the blue-print soon. RCF is planning to approach the government for various clearances and funds to go ahead with the project. Jha said RCF had so far not considered the participation of private sector real estate developers in the project.
“We will not sell or rent our premises for real estate or related commercial ventures. We will invite bids after the clearances. They (the companies) can help us construct the towers,” he said.
It may be noted that RCF’s land in Mumbai has been a prime target for real estate players for many years. In the last few years, there have been several media reports that RCF may sell a part of its real estate assets as a part of the government plan for divestment of loss-making public sector units.
According to sources, RCF’s plants are spread across about 400 acres and its residential colonies cover about 300 acres. More than 100-150 acres could be utilised for various commercial development purposes, including captive expansion, RCF cannot utilise the property for non-related businesses as per the land acquisition norms laid down at the time of the commissioning of RCF, the sources added. As reported earlier, RCF is also working on a project to unlock the value of its real estate assets by venturing into related chemical businesses by setting up a chemical park and a chemical commodity exchange in its premises. The company also had close to 700 acres at its Taal facility, sources said.
RCF had also formed a joint venture with Rapid Building Systems of Australia for setting up a Rapidwall manufacturing facility at its Trombay unit at a cost of Rs 75 crore.
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