Navi Mumbai SEZ to come up before BoA on July 12

NEW DELHI: The much-delayed Navi Mumbai special economic zone promoted by Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani will come up for formal clearance before a central government panel on July 12 after getting a green signal from the Maharashtra government on the issues raised by Revenue Department.

Besides, the Board of Approval will be taking up for clearance of a multi-product SEZ at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh, the Lok Sabha constituency of Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath.

In all, the Board will consider 38 proposals. If approved, this will take the overall SEZ approvals - formal as well as in-principle - to over 500 after the new SEZ Act came into force in 2006, government officials said.

The government has already approved Ambani and Anand Jain-led consortium's three single-product SEZs in the area where the 1.250 hectare Navi Mumbai multi-product zone is also proposed to be set up. The Navi Mumbai SEZ was given in-principle approval earlier.

The proposal was earlier referred to the Revenue Department as the proposed zone was said to be non-contiguous and a highway passes through it. The report of the department, while giving clean chit on the issue, also wanted to know what would promoters do to protect the interests of villagers in the area.

The views of state government were also sought by the Board and its approval came last week which were circulated among the members of the BoA for consideration.