Infy, Suzlon SEZs to get notified

NEW DELHI: With the empowered group of ministers (eGoM) headed by external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee lifting the freeze on SEZ approvals, a number of projects, including Ascendas ITPL (Bangalore), Brandix Textile City (Visakhapatnam) and Lotus Footwear (Thiruvannamalai, TN), are expected to be put on the fast track. Developers of these projects have been complaining about delays following the freeze imposed by the eGoM and state governments and had urged the Centre to clear these .

Among the 83 projects that would be notified following Thursday’s decision of the eGoM to lift the freeze include Ramky Pharma City SEZ (Visakhapatnam), Kakinada SEZ (Kakinada), APIIC multi-product SEZ (Visakhapatnam), Orient Craft Textiles SEZ (Gurgaon) and Infosys Technology SEZs (Pune & Mysore). Notification in respect of the 83 cases of formal approvals, documents for which have been submitted by the developers, may be issued by the department of commerce soon.

However, the notifications would be issued only after due verification, including issues concerning any dispute relating to land. The other major projects awaiting notification include Wockhardt Pharma SEZ (Aurangabad), Maharashtra Airport Development Corporation’s multi-product SEZ (Nagpur), Jindal Stainless Steel SEZ (Kalinga Nagar in Orissa), Mahindra World City SEZ (Jaipur), SICOT Footwear SEZ (Kancheepuram) and Suzlon Infrastructure at Coimbatore.

The governments of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, in particular, have been pushing for early lifting of the freeze on SEZ approvals. Some other states, such as Orissa, which were not quick in getting project clearances initially had argued that the freeze was not fair on them.