More state SEZs may bite the dust, fears govt
Prafulla Marpakwar | TNN Mumbai: Call it the domino effect. A day after the Mahamumbai SEZ promoters failed to secure relief from the SC, the DF government fears that nearly a dozen SEZ projects may never see the light of day following their promoters’ inability to acquire land within the stipulated period. “Certainly, if the Mahamumbai promoters withdraw from the project, it will have an adverse impact on future investments in Maharashtra and land prices in the Konkan belt. Preliminary reports said, seven to eight promoters will have no option but to drop their proposals as they have not acquired the land,’’ an industries department official told TOI on Saturday. On the specific details of the projects in trouble, the official said they involved a total of 11,000 hectares, would have attracted an investment of Rs 20,000 crore and generated ten lakh jobs. India Bulls, Urban Infrastructures, Videocon, Mahindra Realtors and Maharashtra Industrial Development Corp are among the firms which are likely to drop their proposals. India Bulls had proposed to set up two SEZs in Raigad and Thane, Urban Infrastructures had proposed an SEZ in Raigad, Videocon in Pune and Aurangabad. MIDC had proposed to set up an IT SEZ in Airoli and power SEZs in Raigad and Chandrapur. * Land prices could crash to Rs 5L if SEZ is withdrawn * On the Reliance SEZ, the official said if the proposal was withdrawn, the immediate impact would be on land prices in the region. “Currently, the prices range between Rs 25 lakh to Rs 80 lakh. If the project is cancelled, they will crash below the level of Rs 5 lakh per hectare,’’ he said. On the options before the Reliance SEZ, the official said prima facie three options were available—seek further extension from the board of approvals for acquisition of land, file a fresh application for the SEZ project or set up an SEZ on the land already acquired. For a multiproduct SEZ, the minimum requirement of land is 1,000 h e c t a re s, while requirement of land for service and specific sectors is 100 hectares and ten hectares. “They can set up the SEZ and later club it, as has been done in a section of the states,’’ the official said. A senior Congress minister said that had the Reliance group initiated land acquisition under the Maharashtra industrial development act, it would have been an easy proposal. “In Pune and Nasik, there was absolutely no hurdle to acquisition of land as per the provisions of the MID act,’’ he said. Elaborating, the official said that under the land acquisition act, the rates were fixed by the competent authority, while under the MID act, there were no restrictions on the rates. “Under the MID act, there is a lot of scope for negotiations and as a result, farmers agree to surrender land for higher prices,’’ he said. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""GLOBAL SPECULATORS"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalspeculators?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
