States get 60-day deadline to clear SEZ proposals

NEW DELHI: The Centre has warned state governments that if pending state approvals for proposed SEZ projects are not granted within 60 days, the proposals would be taken off the list of cases to be considered by the board of approvals (BoA) for SEZs. As many as 170 SEZ proposals lying with the commerce department are still to receive the go-ahead from the respective state governments, where they are to be set up. Reliance ADAG’s proposal for a multi-product SEZ in Noida also figures in the list as the Mayawati regime has withdrawn the state’s approval.

Speaking to ET, commerce ministry officials said at the BoA meeting on June 22, it was decided that the board would not keep holding on forever to proposals that had not received state government nod. It was decided that letters would be sent to states asking them to take a decision on the pending proposals within 60 days. “Two months is long enough for states to decide whether they want to back a proposal or not. If they do not respond by the given time, the proposals may be taken off the list and developers would have to re-apply,” an official said.

Officials said if the states act immediately, a number of pending proposals can be taken up at the next BoA meeting scheduled for July 12. “Till date, there are just 19 proposals on the list for the next BoA meet. As we can take up to 40 proposals in a meeting, if state governments hurry, a number of pending proposals can be taken up at the next meeting,” the official said.

The recently sworn-in Mayawati government in UP, however, is expected to take its time to grant approval to projects. The UP government has revoked its approval for private sector SEZs that were pending with BoA on grounds that they needed to be scrutinised again.

A total of 339 SEZs have received formal approval so far, of which 126 have been notified. In all, Rs 35,145 crore has been invested in these zones, which have created 32,578 direct jobs.