3 min readNew DelhiMay 2, 2014 10:13 PM IST
First published on: May 2, 2014 at 10:13 PM IST
The National Waqf development Corporation (NAWADCO), a three-month-old public sector firm set up by the UPA government to develop 6 lakh acres of Waqf land, is set to launch its IPO by the end of the year.
NAWADCO was inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in January. It is the first step in setting up Shariah compliant financial institutions for building infrastructure for the welfare of the community.
India has the largest number of Waqf properties in the world. There are more than 4.9 lakh registered Waqf properties and the annual income from these is about Rs 163 crore. The IPO would be the first time a corporation tasked with the development of Waqf properties is entering the market.
The Sachar Committee had estimated that such properties, if properly developed, with a minimum return of 10 per cent, would be capable of generating an income of Rs 12,000 crore per annum.
NAWADCO, a central PSU under the ministry of minority affairs, was established with an authorised share capital of Rs 500 crore and a paid up capital of Rs 100 crore. It was one of the recommendations of the Sachar Committee.
“We are preparing a land bank of Waqf properties and by making the Waqf Management System of India GPS enabled, we can keep track of any illegal occupation at the click of a mouse,” said a senior NAWADCO official.
“Once that is completed we will publicise the land bank and then make an IPO so that by the end of the year NAWADCO becomes a listed company. We have 3 lakh acres of land which are completely free of any legal hassles and of that 1 lakh acres are in urban areas. There are huge financial possibilities there,” the official said.
The corporation has so far identified three properties for redevelopment and all infrastructure built will bear the NAWADCO logo. The three properties are a 500 sq yd commercial property in Daryagunj, a 4,000 sq yd property on Hailey Road — both in Delhi — and a 6,000 sq yd plot near Albert Hall in Jaipur.
Of these, the priority is to build a three-star hotel in PPP mode on the Jaipur plot and the corporation hopes to start work on the project by August.
The hotel will be built as a joint venture between NAWADCO, National Buildings Construction Corporation and the Rajasthan Waqf Board. Bids will be floated to manage and run the hotel. “Given the huge amount of land available, a NAWADCO hotel chain is certainly one of the things we are looking at,” the official said.
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