The Hindu : Karnataka News : Environmental concerns on top, says SEZ official

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Wednesday, Jul 18, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Environmental concerns on top, says SEZ official

Special Correspondent

Emphasis is on the rehabilitation and relief package

KCCI organises interactive meeting with stakeholders
It will be a multi-product project with potential for employment generation

MANGALORE: The socio-economic and environmental aspects were on top of the agenda of the Mangalore Special Economic Zone (MSEZ) with emphasis on the rehabilitation package, said Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of MSEZ Company Limited I.S.N. Prasad here on Tuesday.

Participating in an interactive meeting with stakeholders organised by the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Mr. Prasad said the MSEZ will be built on a 4,000-acre area of which only 5 per cent to 6 per cent was double crop area and 70 per cent was shrub land and laterite stone area. The socio-economic and geographic survey made indicated that the MSEZ will come up only in thinly populated areas to the east and north of Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals Limited.

At present, 1,453 acres of land have been acquired besides the 266 acres of government land available. The MSEZ will be largely a multi-product project with potential for employment generation, Mr. Prasad said.

He said the New Mangalore Port has also indicated that it would be able to spare 300 acres of land for the SEZ component and that land was being considered for LNG plant.

When upgraded, the MSEZ will get a number of downstream industries which will be environmental friendly.

Mangalore Special Economic Zone Company Limited will make sure that every unit coming up at the zone individually will submit itself to the norms of environmental impact assessment in the beginning and also to a public hearing.

From time to time inspection will be carried out for environmental impact compliance, Mr. Prasad said.

He said environmental groups had raised concerns that some components would violate the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) and the company would not consider those areas for development. The company was also preparing an “environmental mitigation plan”, he added.

He said an investment of Rs. 13,000 crore has been approved and another Rs. 12,000 crore was in the pipeline.

On the rehabilitation planning and execution, Mr. Prasad said the basic price of land can go up to Rs. 21 lakh per acre starting from Rs. 8 lakh. He said the rehabilitation and relief package devised by the company has been rated as one of the best.

He said there will be at least one job for a family that has sacrificed land for the project. He said the company was signing a memorandum of understanding with the Karnataka Polytechnic to train one member each of such families for 30 months.

A package of Rs. 4 crore will be set apart for this. Training will help the individual become employable or be able to set up entrepreneurship on his own.

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