Shipping ministry may buy Air India's iconic Nariman Point property

New Delhi: Shipping Ministry is likely to buy Air India's iconic building located at Nariman Point in Mumbai.

Sources told Zee Media that the Shipping Ministry will purchase the building via its arm Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT ) after getting cabinet approval.

As per Zee Media sources a Valuation committee has been formed by ministry to evaluate the amount for Air India's building. Sources close to the development said that the Valuation committee will give its assessment to the Shipping Ministry post which JNPT will move ahead to buy the iconic Building.

As per market rates, Air India'a Nariman Point building could be valued at Rs 15,000 crore.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha in March this year informed the Lok Sabha Air India that also collected Rs 291 crore as lease rental from its priced Air India building at Nariman Point, Mumbai between 2012-13 and January, 2018

The national carrier has so far mopped up Rs 543.03 crore so far from monetisation of its assets in prime locations such as Mumbai and Chennai.

The monetisation included the sale of six flats at Sterling Apartment, Mumbai to the State Bank of India with each of these flats fetching Rs 22 crore.

In all, Air India has monetised a sum of Rs 543.03 crore from 2012-13 to 2017-18.

The Centre had in 2012 approved monetisation of real estate assets in AI to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore over the next 10 year period with an annual target of Rs 500 crore from 2013 fiscal onwards.

The monetised asset included selling of a vacant land at Coimbatore to NBCC for Rs 19.81 crore and Lakshmi House at Chennai to the Ministry of External Affairs at Rs 97.72 crore.

With Agency Inputs