Siliguri, March 7: The Reliance Engineering Associate Private Limited today signed an agreement with the North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC) to build a five-storeyed commercial complex and a bus terminus in Jalpaiguri.

The move, for the first time in north Bengal, follows a decision by the NBSTC to earn revenue from its unused land in the state by entering into joint ventures with private companies.

“We have decided to lease out the 4.5 acre plot to the associate company of the Reliance Group for 999 years. They will develop the site and build a commercial complex and a bus terminus,” said Samir Banerjee, the managing director of the NBSTC. He signed the agreement with Kalyan Sarangi, the chief operating officer of the company.

According to the agreement, Reliance would give Rs 1.50 crore to the Jalpaiguri municipality and Rs 1 crore to the NBSTC as one-time payment. “The company will build a terminus to park about 25-30 state buses and develop other passenger amenities. It will earmark a floor of the building to the civic body and keep the remaining three to itself,” said an NBSTC official.

Sarangi, however, did not divulge what Reliance would do with the remaining space.

The plot was at the centre of a dispute between the municipality and the NBSTC over non-payment of dues.

“In the 90s, the NBSTC wanted to buy the land from its owner, the municipality, for constructing a workshop. The price was fixed at Rs 16 lakh, of which the NBSTC had paid around Rs 10 lakh. But the civic body denied the right of the land citing the entire money was not paid,” a civic official said.

In 2006, the transport authorities wanted to pay the rest of the amount. But the civic body did not budge saying the plot cost more.

The dispute, however, was sorted out with the intervention of transport minister Subhas Chakraborty last year, the civic official added.