Centre notifies list of authorised activities in SEZs

October 28, 2006	(2 votes, average: 4 out of 5)  Loading ...
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In the wake of criticism that Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are becoming a real-estate business, the government on Friday notified the list of authorised activities, related to social infrastructure in the zones. However, it omitted construction of golf courses from it.

It cleared 44 SEZs bringing in investments worth over Rs 40,000 crore. Formal nods were given to 24 SEZs including those of developers like Global Health’ Biotech SEZ in Gurgaon, Wockhardt’s Pharma SEZ in Maharashtra, Suncity’s and Ansal’s IT SEZs in Haryana.

The notified list included building of roads, power plants, water treatment plant and other necessary amenities. Dadra and Nagar Haveli will get its first SEZ, with the board of approvals (BoA) giving in-principle approval to Alok Infrastructure’s textile SEZ. The BoA also granted in-principle nod to 19 others.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that Hewlett Packard has informed the commerce ministry it would be unable to set up the proposed Rs 400-crore IT SEZ in Bangalore.

The fresh applications has also reduced, with the BoA getting only 62 new proposals. Officials claimed even if 50-60 of the cleared proposals fail to materialise, the country would still get massive investments and job opportunities that would not have come without the SEZ policy. The number of formal approvals has touched 236, so far, with the government notifying 36 of them. SEZs getting in-principle nods have touched 169.

Commerce secretary GK Pillai said the government has decided to bring in an additional screening mechanism to examine the proposals. Till now, the applications were going directly to the BoA. From BoA’s next meeting, all the proposals would be initially screened by ministry officials find out if they meet the necessary criteria including net worth and land area.

He said Suncity’s IT SEZ would bring in Rs 811 crore and 24,000 jobs. The company has also been granted in-principle nod for a 3,000-hectare multi-product SEZ near Ambala with an investment of approximately Rs 16,000 crore, Pillai added.

Among other proposals cleared are the Kandla Port trust’s Rs 7,300 crore port-based SEZ in Gujarat, Bentex’s Rs 8,100 crore multi-services SEZ in 168 hectares in Haryana and Parsvnath’s Rs 1900 crore IT SEZ. While Suncity is purchasing land straight from the owners without the state’s intervention, Bentex already owns the required land in Haryana, Pillai said.

In-principle approvals have been granted to Shapoor Pallonji group’s IT SEZ near Pune, a free trade warehousing zone in Greater NOIDA and a multi-product zone in Karnataka.

Source: http://www.financialexpress.com/

News Published Under:   Special Economic Zones |

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