Making a statement in the state assembly on the issue, state Commerce and Industry Minister Nirupam Sen said that Tata Motors had been allotted the land on a 90-year lease term to set up their Rs 1 lakh small car plant.
The West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation had acquired a total of 997.11 acres about 35 km from from Kolkata and Tata Motors was given 645.47 acres to set up the main plant for which the company was not required to make any upfront payment.
Brushing aside the opposition claims that Tata Motors had been given undue incentives, Sen said that as per the lease agreement, concluded recently with the company, it would have to pay a lease rent of Rs 1 crore per year for the first five years to the state.
Subsequently this lease rental would increase at the rate of 25 per cent and would touch Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million) per annum in 60 years.
The Minister said that 290 acres was allocated to the auto ancillary units, which would set up their units adjacent to the main plant and for that the smaller units have to pay a monthly lease rental of Rs 8,000 to the state government.
WBIDC, the nodal agency, he said, borrowed a soft loan of Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) for land acquisition at Singur at one per cent interest.
Claiming that the protests by opposition parties against the Tata Motors' project has been damaging the state's industrial prospects, Sen said that the government had 'laboured hard' to get Tata Motors to agree to set up its plant at Singur.
Expressing hope of an industrial resurgence in the state after Tata Motors' car project became operational, Sen expressed the hope that ''a sum of Rs 400 crore to Rs 450 crore (Rs 4-4.5 billion) will come to the state exchequer when the manufacturing unit will start commercial production, besides employment for 1,800 in the main plant and 4,700 in the ancillary units''.
The Rs 1,700-crore (Rs 17 billion) project, he said, would open a new chapter in state's industrial scenario, being the second one of its kind in the entire eastern region.
Denying any clandestine deal with the Tata Motors in land lease agreement, Sen claimed ''it is as transparent as ever''. ''Benefits of the small car plant will be felt two years from now'', he said.
About land selection for the project, he said the site was changed from Kharagpur to Singur considering the investor's suitability. Sen urged the opposition parties to shun the path of violence and adopt a 'positive role' in accelerating the industrial progress of the state.