Higher Rent, Less Parking: Vasco RTO's New Office Raises Questions
The Takeaway: The government approved rent for Vasco RTO's new office at 34% above PWD's own valuation — and the new building has less parking than the old one. You're paying more for less.
STORIES
8/23/20263 min read
If you pay taxes in Goa, you have a simple reason to care about what happens when the Government rents private office space: every rupee above a reasonable rent eventually comes out of the public exchequer.
The RTO Office in Vasco (Assistant Director of Transport (South)) formerly operated from the Our Lady of Guia Building on FL Gomes Road in Vaddem. Crucially, the premises offered a reasonable amount of parking capacity to accommodate the visiting public.
However, recently the Government opted to relocate the office to Sumanthesh, another building along the same road that previously served as an LIC office. This new site features underground parking that is barely sufficient for staff vehicles, while the frontage provides space for barely five cars.
Given these logistical constraints, why did the Government select this particular building? Was it more space, better parking or lesser rent?
PWD assessed the proposed Sumanthesh premises at ₹2,61,218 per month. The premises have a plinth area of 795.13 sq. metres, and the PWD certificate says the rent was considered reasonable based on the location, nature and type of accommodation.
The Government, however, approved a rent of ₹3.50 lakh per month, plus GST and other applicable taxes.
That means the approved rent is ₹88,782 more every month than PWD's assessment.
That's roughly 34% higher than the PWD valuation, or more than ₹10.65 lakh extra every year, before taxes.
So what justified the jump?
Was there a separate valuation? Were additional facilities included? Did market conditions justify a premium?
Or was the Government simply willing to pay more than the valuation produced by its own engineering department?
This is not and isolated incident...
This is not the first time the government has rented premises at rates exceeding the Public Works Department (PWD) schedule of rates. In October 2025, the Goa-Industries Development Corporation signed a lease with Myles High Hotel and Towers Pvt. Ltd. for office space in the Myles High Building at Patto, Panjim.
Initially, the PWD estimated a monthly rent of Rs 1,648 per square meter for 348.85 square meters. Subsequently, the Goa-IDC took up additional space, bringing the total leased area to 488.21 square meters at an increased rate of Rs 1,648.27 per square meter—representing a 10% jump compared to the PWD-approved benchmark. Inclusive of GST and municipal taxes, the total annual payout amounts to a whooping Rs 1,23,36,866.40.
A simple question also needs to be asked: what does it cost to own instead of rent? A 500-square-metre government office is not going to be cheap to construct, but even a ₹6-crore construction bill has to be viewed against the recurring cost of renting. At GIDC's current Myles High rent of ₹7.68 lakh a month, the Government is committing about ₹92.2 lakh every year before taxes. At that rate, ₹6 crore in rent is crossed in roughly six and a half years.
That doesn't mean a ₹6-crore building is automatically the better option—the Government would still have to account for land, construction, financing, maintenance and the opportunity cost of capital. But if the Government knows it needs permanent office space for the long term, shouldn't it at least compare the lifetime cost of ownership against another decade of rent? Because rent doesn't create a government asset. At the end of the lease, the building still belongs to someone else.
In these two cases like many others, Goa Government has failed to weigh the long-term financial burden of perpetually leasing premises against the cost-effectiveness of constructing permanent government-owned infrastructure. Ultimately, it is the taxpayer who bears the brunt of these inflated expenses—whether through higher taxes, inadequate parking, or inefficient public service delivery.