101 formal approvals for SEZs in Mah, MP, Ch'garh

New Delhi, Mar 16: The Government today said under the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) Act 2005, 101 formal approvals have been granted for setting up of SEZs in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Out of these 101 approvals, 24 SEZs in Maharashtra and three in MP have been notified and are in various stages of implementation. In the state of Chhattisgarh, only one formal approval has been granted for setting up of an SEZ by M/s Naya Raipur Development Authority, a statement said. In Madhya Pradesh, formal approvals have been granted to 12 SEZs, out of which seven are by Madhya Pradesh State Electronics Development Corporation Limited and Madhya Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation.

In Maharashtra, formal approvals have been granted to 88 developers of which 20 are for SEZs to be set up by Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation/ Maharashtra Airport Development Company Limited.

All State Governments have been advised that in case of land acquistion for SEZs, first priority should be for acquistion of waste and barren land, then single crop land and if perforce a portion of double cropped agricultutral land has to be acquired the same should not exceed 10 per cent of the total land required for SEZ.

State Governments have also been informed that Board of approval will not consider any proposal of setting up of SEZ if the State Governments have carried out or propose to carry out compulsory acquisition after April 5, 2007.

UNI