Kozhikode city has been chosen for the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transportation project. Consultancy agency Knight Frank India has asked the city corporation to consider height, age and location of buildings to fix the rent and tax. more-in The London-head-quartered property consultant Knight Frank India, hired by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, has suggested that the Kozhikode Corporation raise property tax by 5% annually to raise revenue for meeting its development goals. The agency, appointed consultant to the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) project, also asked the civic body to prepare guidelines to levy on larger projects especially for built-up area above 2 lakh square feet. Height of the building, usage of existing public infrastructure and location should be factored in for this purpose. GIS mapping and legislative approval for yearly increase in tax rate have been suggested to take forward the recommendations. Praveen Subramanya, associate director, and Kamal Sreehari, member of the Knight Frank team,who briefed councillors on the key recommendations at the corporation council meeting on Wednesday, also urged the corporation to fix rentals of public assets such as the EMS Stadium Complex and Palayam Annexe considering the maintenance charges along with the profits for the civic body. “As of now the rent the corporation fixed was comparatively low and the maintenance status of public buildings is poor, ” Ms. Sreehari told The Hindu. The corporation derives 8.45% of its revenue through property rentals. The rent from the Town Hall was ?78 lakh during 2016-17; shopping complexes, ?10.04 crore; lease of lands, ?54 lakh, and civic amenities, ?8.83 crore. The rent collected by the corporation for Muthakulam, Mankavu, Thiruvanoor, Kuttichira and Karuvassery grounds was a meagre ?50 plus GST a day. Market standards “Rents should be revised as per market standards ranging from ?500 to ?5,000 depending on the location of the property, extent of land, type of user and duration of usage,” she said, adding that the rent of grounds in Thiruvananthapuram (Putharikandam Maidam and E.K. Nayanar Park) ranges between ?3,000 to ?8,000 for a day. Ms. Sreehari said that the corporation should identify properties that are under-developed and redevelopment work should be taken up to generate more income. At present, the Kozhikode Corporation does not levy impact fee based on location of a project. Only one-time charge is collected to pay for public infrastructure initiatives before the execution of the proposed development scheme. Guidelines should be prepared for regeneration of projects having land pooling potential. Special approval should be taken for all conversions other than those defined in the Kerala Municipality (levy and collection of land conversion cess) Rules, 2003 and the Kerala Conservation of Paddy and Wetland Act, 2008. The legislature could be approached for enactment and framing of guidelines over a period of time, she said. In Kochi, Ms. Sreehari pointed out, land conversion fee is fixed on a case-to-case basis and is levied by the urban local body. Special sanctions have been provided based on the intensity of development and its economic importance to the city.

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