Mangalore SEZ allays fear on environment

Mangalore, July 17 (UNI) Stating the proposed Mangalore Special Economic Zone (MSEZ) has evoked tremendous response from the investor community, its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer L S N Prasad has allayed fears on environmental impact and said work would start only after the Environmental Mitigation Plan (EMP) was cleared.

The EMP would go through a public hearing before being put in place, he said speaking at an interactive session organised by the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI) here yesterday.

''We will not lay a single stone for the project unless and until the EMP is cleared by the Ministry of Environment and Forest'' he added.

Mr Prasad said the government had given the clearance to acquire the required 4,000 acres of land for the multi-product Special Economic Zone here and 1,721 acres of land, including 1,453 acres of private land, had already been acquired.

The satellite picture taken by a reputed Hyderabad-based agency had shown that 23 per cent of the total 4,000 acres required was single-crop agricultural land and only five to six per cent was two-crop cultivating land. ''Our intention is to move away from agricultural land and habitant area while setting up the project,'' he said.

Mr Prasad said in the MSEZ company, ONGC would have 26 per cent equity, followed by 23 per cent by the state government, two per cent by the KCCI and remaining by the financial institution. The New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) had also evinced keen interest in having equity in the MSEZ and discussions were on in this regard, he said.

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