The Hindu : Other States / Pondicherry News : Government approves land for Special Economic Zone

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 24, 2005

Other States

Other States - Pondicherry

Government approves land for Special Economic Zone

Rajesh Nair

Public-private partnership model set to be adopted

PONDICHERRY: The Government has approved the land identified for the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and measures are being taken to acquire the land by the end of July according to official sources.

The sources said that the Lieutenant Governor gave the nod to acquire 890 acres of land in Karasur near Saidarapet two days ago. The government has also decided to adopt the Public Private Participation mode in developing the SEZ, which is expected to be fully functional in 18 months, sources said.

As per the plan the Pondicherry Industrial Promotion Development and Investment Corporation would make 26 per cent of the investment. The rest of the investment would be routed through private parties.

A private player has been identified for submitting a detailed project report and a period of 45 days have been given to submit the report. Of the two zones, one is for the automobile and auto parts sector and the other for bioinformatics, services and hardware under the Information Technology sector.

20 firms make enquiries

A highly placed source said "at least 20 companies, a majority of them public sector players have made enquires in setting up their units at the SEZ". Some of them were major players in the car-manufacturing sector.

The government expects `extensive capital component' in the SEZ and hopes to generate more than 10, 000 jobs during the initial period.

"The Pondicherry SEZs would be the most competitive among all zones in the country", the official said. The Government intended doubling Pondicherry's export to Rs. 1,000 crores.

Besides the incentives announced by the Department of Industrial Development (Industries and Commerce) in the notification issued sometime ago, a new industrial policy targeting investment in the SEZ was being prepared.

To give good connectivity, a six-lane road would be laid between the SEZ and the Port. Another six-lane road was also being planned connecting the SEZ and NH, the official said.

It is also learnt that a private consultancy company has been given the task of making a detailed report on taking up the development work of Port.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Other States

News Update

Stories in this Section

Government approves land for Special Economic Zone