Allocation of land for non-residential purposes Act has been amended to extend lease duration without a bidding process.

The amendment gazetted by the Housing Ministry stated, if the lessee requests an extension of the lease duration for a land provided under this Act, before the expiry of lease terms, an assessment will be done taking into account the person’s reason for extension, then according to the results of the assessment, the choice is given to the lessee to extend the duration of the lease or not.

The amendment also included that the lease can be extended as such without a bidding process, if the announcement for the first bidding process stated the maximum duration for which the lease can be extended.

In the previous Act, the Ministry can extend the lease of the land if the duration does not exceed 50% of the the lease terms.

Under the Allocation of land for non-residential purposes Act the option is provided to the island councils to lease land for 10 years without permission of the Ministry. However, in the case where the lease duration exceeds this limit, then it has to be done with the Ministry’s permission.

Hence, with the amendment to the Act yesterday, the option for extension of the duration of land leased by the government and the councils' without a bidding process is provided to the lessee.