Chennai: The city would soon get another super specialty hospital. The Chennai Port Trust’s plan to build the hospital would be a big boon for the people in the northern part of the city, which lacks proper medical facilities till now.
CPT chairman Atulya Misra told Deccan Chronicle that the port, under the new land policy, has decided to utilise the surplus land for developing a super specialty hospital on an outsourcing model.
“We already have a building meant for a super specialty hospital. But the numbers of patients has decreased in recent times. So we have decided to lease that place to a private party to run a super specialty hospital for the general public,” Mr Misra said. Even though the plan is in an early stage, the CPT chairman said that the port would identify potential partners before planning the tendering process. “Later we will place it before the board for approval,” he added.
It was the shipping ministry under former minister G. K. Vasan that had come out with a new land policy to lease port lands outside the customs-bound area to private firms for commercial development, including building hotels, housing projects and such.
The policy was meant to promote investment and efficiency in operations in the major ports. According to Mr Misra, the city port could offset around Rs 200 to Rs 250 crore business lost from stopping dusty cargo handling by leasing out its surplus land.
The port has about 800 acres of which 300-400 acres of land are waterfront. A substantial part of the land area even after leaving out the infrastructure facilities like roads and railways, is vacant.
Tamil Chamber of Commerce president, Chozha Naachiar Rajasekar, said the proposed super specialty hospital on land belonging to the port would benefit people of north Chennai. “We hope the hospital sets a high standard to attract patients across the city,” he added.
