Citizens’ Research Collective on SEZ

New Delhi, Oct 9, 2007: Fifty-two SEZ developers who received formal approvals must apply for notification, with land papers, by October 25 or face losing their clearances. The commerce ministry has written to such companies, including the Shapoorji Pallonji group that is developing an IT SEZ in Bengal, to file their land papers. The formal approvals are granted by the board of approvals, which functions under the commerce ministry.

“We have asked them (the developers of the special zones) to complete notification formalities by October 25. Those who don’t will lose their approvals and will have to apply again,” a senior commerce ministry official said.

Maharashtra Industrial Development Corp. (MIDC), which has lined up five SEZs, and Orissa Industrial Development Corp. are among those that have received the notices. MIDC’s five sector-specific SEZs in Baramati (Pune), Lote Parshuram (Ratnagiri), Kagal (Kolhapur), Jalna and Bhadravati (Chandrapur) need 700 hectares. After Maharashtra, Haryana has the largest number of promoters who haven’t applied for notification.

A project gets SEZ status in three stages. In the first, the state recommends the project and submits an application to the board, which grants in-principle approval.

In the second, the developer seeks formal approval after acquiring land. In the final stage, which leads to the notification, the developer has to back the application with several documents, including land agreements.

“We give formal approval to an SEZ when a state informs us that the land has been acquired. The developer then approaches us to issue the notification so that the units can enjoy certain tax breaks,” the official said.

While the 52 developers have been served notices to move quickly on getting their plans notified, the board has decided to cancel another batch of over 100 SEZ applications for which the states have not submitted status reports so far. “We have informed the state governments about our decision,” the ministry official said.

Till last month, the Centre had granted formal approval to 386 SEZs and in-principle nod to 176 plans. It notified 149 projects.

Source: The Telegraph