Harbours Act, 1996

Provisions with respect to sale, leasing and acquisition of land.

15.—(1) A decision by a company to acquire any land or to dispose of any of its land (whether by sale or the grant of a lease) shall only be made by the directors of the company.

(2) The consideration for which any land is sold by a company shall, in so far as is practicable, not be less than its open market value.

(3) The rent to be reserved under a lease of land granted by the company shall be of an amount not less than the open market rent obtainable for that land save that a rent of below such an amount may be reserved under such a lease if—

(a) in case any business or trade is to be carried on at the land, the company considers that, having regard to—

(i) the amount of business or trade that is likely to be transacted at the land, or

(ii) the effect the granting of the lease is otherwise likely to have on the amount of business or trade transacted in its harbour,

it is appropriate to reserve a rent at below such an amount, or

(b) in any other case, the Minister consents to the reservation of a rent at below such an amount.

(4) (a) In deciding whether to acquire any land or in deciding the consideration it shall pay for the acquisition of any land, a company shall have regard to any Government policy or guidelines in relation to the acquisition of land by State enterprises which is or are for the time being extant.

(b) Without prejudice to paragraph (a), where a company proposes to acquire land it shall cause a valuation of the land to be made by an appropriately qualified independent person.

(c) In this subsection “State enterprise” means a company (within the meaning of the Companies Acts) one or more shares in the shareholding of which is held by a Minister of the Government and the principal objects of which (as stated in its memorandum of association) are prescribed in whole or part by statute.