The Coimbatore Corporation was studying the lease agreement it had signed with the Coimbatore Integrated Waste Management Company Pvt. Ltd. to explore ways to proceed with the construction of the integrated bus stand project in Vellalore.
The Corporation had signed the lease agreement with the company in October 2008 leasing 180-odd acre in Vellalore to help the latter establish a waste processing plant. The lease was for 20 years starting from the date the company would commence operations.
As the company had started operations in April 2011, the land would be with the company till March 2031.
While the land was in the company’s possession, the Corporation had a few weeks ago launched the project at ₹ 168 crore to construct the bus stand on 60 acre, a parcel of land that fell within the leased 180-plus acre.
After The Hindu reported the issue, the Corporation was looking into the issue by studying the lease document.
It would then engage with the company to explore ways to get back the land – either by signing a fresh lease agreement or trading equal measurement of land for the 60 acre or some such means, said an officer.
An argument that the Corporation would advance was that the company had not used most of the land in question and whatever structures it had erected were temporary and therefore it should not be difficult for the company to part with the land.
The officer said after studying the lease agreement, the Corporation would talk to the company in the next couple of weeks, for it did not want the lease agreement to be an irritant in the bus stand project.
