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LAND OF GOA ARCHDIOCESE!
* When the land was sold to Ciba of India in January 1969 two sale deeds were effected since the government claimed ownership but the land was in possession of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman
* When the land was sold in 1969 the government’s share was 25 paise per sq meter which amounted to Rs 1,88,460 while the Archdiocese received 70 paise per sq meter which totaled to Rs 5,27,688
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PANAJI: Even as the agitation to force the State government to intervene in the sale of Syngenta India Ltd to Deccan Fine Chemicals gathers steam a large question hangs over the transaction, which villagers say is “violates provisions of the original sale deed”.
They have pointed to two clauses in the original sale deed between the Government of Goa and the then buyer Ciba. When the land was sold to Ciba of India in January 1969 two sale deeds were effected since the government claimed ownership but the land was in possession of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman.
Clause 3 of the sale deed between Ciba and the government states that “in the event of the purchaser intending to resell the land or any part of it which has not been developed, the government shall have the first option to purchase back the same….”
The sale deed further states, “the purchaser (Ciba) shall have at all times hereafter the right to grant, convey, assign and transfer the said land or any part or portion to any company which shall be a subsidiary or an associate company of the purchaser or a company with which company shall be amalgamated for expansion of the allied chemical industrial complex.”
Baptist Pereira, secretary of Corlim Civic and Consumer Forum which has been leading the agitation against the plant, said: “This clause alone casts a shadow over the sale of Syngenta to Deccan Fine and merits a proper legal vetting. Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar needs to take note of this point.”
When the land was sold in 1969 the government’s share was 25 paise per sq meter which amounted to Rs 1,88,460 while the Archdiocese received 70 paise per sq meter which totaled to Rs 5,27,688.
The second question mark that hangs over the whole deal is why would Deccan Fine purchase a factory that is manufacturing ingredients that have lost their value in the market?
According to an explanatory statement by Syngenta the Corlim plant was set up exclusively for the domestic market but by around 2005 it “became a global strategic manufacturing site and its performance depended largely on export business.”
Two active ingredients “ Thiamethoxam (TMX) and Pretilachlor (PTC) were being manufactured at the plant of which TMX alone “constituted almost 83 per cent of the value of exports in 2014-15.”
However, conditions in the international market changed the equation and impacted on the balance sheet. “Further, TMX and PTC no longer enjoyed patent protection and generic manufacturers are able to offer much cheaper pricing. This impacted on capacity utilization of the TMX plant which reduced to 35 per cent in 2014-15.”
This situation forced Syngenta to sell the plant to a company which had manufacture of active ingredients as its core business.
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Real Estate bonanza: Syngenta land
is worth over Rs 1,000 crore
The new owners of 7.53 lakh sq meters of land owned by Syngenta India Limited at Corlim are sitting on a real estate bonanza that could be worth upwards of Rs 1,000 crore in the retail market.
Documents made available by residents of Corlim, who are against the sale of the company to Deccan Fine Chemicals Private Ltd suspect that, more than the factory and the products it manufactures, the deal between the two companies also involves transfer of a large chunk of land.
“This is why we want the government to intervene in this matter because no proper evaluation of the land has been done and undeveloped land is being sold below the market value,” said Baptista Pereira the Secretary of the Corlim Civic and Consumer Forum.
The Corlim plant was sold by Syngenta to Deccan Fine for a consideration of Rs 340 crore following a board meeting on December 15, 2015
Real Estate players, who did not want to be named, said the cost of undivided land in the area is roughly Rs 1,500 per sq meter, which means the land component of the deal alone amounted to Rs 112 crore.
“If this chunk of land were to be converted and sold as plots the cost per sq meter would mount to Rs 12, 000 and the total cost of 7.5 lakh sq meters could be in the range of Rs 1,000 crore,” the real estate player said.
