Date:30/06/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/30/stories/2008063059591000.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

TNPL plans to develop IT park

S. Vydhianathan

It will lease out its land to major companies

A built-up area of 3.5 lakh-4.5 lakh square feet will be available
Company has called for expression of interest from property developers

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd (TNPL) plans to develop an information technology park on a 3.5-acre plot in the Ambattur Industrial Estate near here.

The TNPL, a profit-making paper and newsprint manufacturer owned by the State government, wants to make the best use of its land by leasing it out to major IT companies for developing a park. A built-up area, estimated to be 3.5 lakh-4.5 lakh square feet, will be available in the park.

For this, the company has called for expression of interest from reputed property developers, building construction firms, or a consortium of companies in the information technology and IT-enabled services. The land will be leased out to a selected company for 25 years on a build-lease-operate transfer basis or a built-own-operate-transfer basis. The company has to develop the land and lease it out to IT companies. The company has to return the developed land back to the TNPL on expiry of the lease.

Talking to The Hindu, TNPL chairman M.F. Farooqui said the company did not want to invest its money in developing IT business, which was not its core business. As the land was in a prime industrial area, it did not want to sell it; it wanted to generate income for the company. So it decided to lease it out to IT companies. The decision, he said, would fetch additional revenue that would be used for the TNPL’s expansion. At the end of the lease period (25 years), the company would get back its property fully developed.