Thiruvananthapuram, February 06, 2008: Minister for Home and Tourism Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has said that the government would soon come up with a clear-cut policy on the launch of the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the State. Inaugurating the annual convention of the Trivandrum Management Association ‘TRIMA 2008’ here on Wednesday, the Minister said the policy would take into account the unique constraints of Kerala, particularly land.

“We cannot set up huge SEZs spread across thousands of acres like some States, as land is a scarce resource here. But, we can build SEZs in smaller scales, on about 35 acres,” Mr. Balakrishnan said. He also disclosed that some of the nearly 10,000 acres of land seized from the illegal occupants in Munnar would be allocated for eco-friendly tourism projects. Emphasising that the State government was not against private-public partnership for projects, the Minister said that a practical approach would be followed in this regard, citing the case of Kannur airport project.

Toeing Centre’s line
Similarly, the State will be able to operate only within the broad policy framework laid out by the Central government.

Despite reservations, the State cannot remain aloof from the projects drawn up as per the Central guidelines. Otherwise other States will move ahead and Kerala will be left out of developmental projects.

The State had taken such an attitude in the case of the development of National Highways (NH). Earlier, it was unwilling to sign a MoU with the Centre for the NH maintenance, which led to the stalling of all development and maintenance works in this sector in the State. Later, it was decided to sign the MoU after discussions with all concerned, Mr. Balakrishnan said.

Source: The Hindu