Saturday, September 23, 2006

Singapore co to invest $1bn Timil Nadu SEZs

AMITI SEN

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2006 03:02:23 AM]

NEW DELHI: Singapore-based property developer, Ascendas, has proposed to invest $1bn in two multi-product special economic zones (SEZs) in Tamil Nadu. The proposal will be taken up at the Board of Approvals (BoA) meeting for SEZs in October. The company’s Indian arm is already developing an international technology park in Chennai in a joint venture with the Tamil Nadu Investment Development Corporation (TIDCO), at the cost of Rs 450 crore.

Commerce ministry officials told ET, the interest of foreign players in Indian SEZs was growing. Apart from Ascendas, international majors, including South Korean steel company Posco and Indonesia’s Salem group, are also waiting to get their SEZ proposals cleared.

The BoA already has its task cut out with 200 pending proposals spilling over from its previous meeting. However, ministry officials said there will be no problem in accommodating fresh proposals. “As we have decided to hold five meetings to clear proposals state-wise, there will be no problem in taking up new applications,” an official said.

Interestingly, less than half-a-dozen new proposals have been submitted to BoA after the ceiling on the number of approvals was lifted last month. Officials said that the mad rush of applicants last month was because of the 150-cap imposed by the empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on SEZs. Once the cap was lifted, applicants became more relaxed.

The commerce ministry hopes to clear all pending proposals by October 10. Although the EGoM has removed the cap on the number of applications, it will relook at the situation in February ’07, or sooner if 70 SEZs get notified before February. As only 24 SEZs have been notified so far, it is unlikely that the next EGoM meeting will take place before February ’07.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2019276.cms

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