KOCHI: The Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese of the Syro Malabar Church is gearing up to sell its properties to recover from the huge debt incurred from a series of controversial land deals.
The Church has been seeking bids for the sale of their 10 acres near Vijobhavan (home for retired priests) at Kakkanad. As per sources, businessman and founder of V-Guard Kochouseph Chittilapilly may buy the land.
Apostolic Administrator of the archdiocese Mar Jacob Manathodath has been assigned to resolve the issues pertaining to the financial burden of the diocese. In its first stage, the diocese has decided to sell its property in Kakkanad at a rate of Rs 5 lakh/cent for the 10 acres.
When contacted, Chittilapilly confirmed talks are going on with the Church authorities for buying the land for more than a month now.
“There are some differences regarding the price of the land, and therefore we have not finalised the deal. If the rate becomes satisfactory, then we can move ahead with it,” he told Express.
As part of repaying the debt, the archdiocese has to pay Rs 80 lakh every month as interest. Compared to the earlier land deals, which were embroiled in controversy due to the lack of transparency, this time the archdiocese is keen on following the rules and regulations before finalising the deal, said sources. To end all financial burden, it is likely the Church will sell more properties, it is learnt.
However, the Syro-Malabar Church spokesman was not available for comments despite several attempts.
Controversial land deals
The controversial real estate deals, which hit the news last year, put a burden of over Rs 84 crore on the Church.
Earlier, a circular brought out by the archdiocese noted the Church purchased 23.44 acres at Mattoor in Thuravoor village for a proposed medical college attached to Little Flower Hospital, Angamaly. The land was bought with a bank loan of Rs 60 crore.
Though the plan was to sell the land in Varantharapally and repay the loan, the sale did not happen in the expected time frame.
Following this, the repayment of Rs 60 crore became a huge burden for the archdiocese. Later, it was proposed the bank loan could be repaid by selling some other land owned by the Archdiocese and five plots were identified which together had a total area of 306.98 cents, the circular said. According to a real estate agent, the land value in Kakkanad region will amount to `5.5 lakh to `6 lakh. But, for a big parcel of land such as the 10 acres, the cost will come down by 25 per cent. “If 10 acres is sold, then the price for a cent will come down to between `3.5 lakh and `4 lakh. Also, 15 per cent of the land will be used for road and development works, therefore more initial investment is required from the buyer,” he said.