Indo-Singapore SEZ planned near Chennai

Wednesday October 4 2006 11:46 IST
CHENNAI: An Indo-Singapore Special Economic Zone (SEZ) with
manufacturing units of all sectors including the electronic sector would
be coming up near Chennai alongside the National Highway to Calcutta.

Chief Minister M Karunanidhi had agreed to support this project, Dr
Balaji Sadasivan, Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs,
Singapore, told journalists after holding discussions with the former at
his Gopalapuram residence here.

Asked about the sectors for which manufacturing would be taken up in the
new SEZ, the Minister said though electronics could be a big investment,
it would be an integrated zone comprising all sectors. The new SEZ would
be a “Singapore in India”, he added.

The Minister said he had already discussed the details of the project
with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other senior Ministers of the
Central Government.

“Tamil Nadu has been chosen as the ideal place for setting up the
project as the State has maintained a close relationship with Singapore
for a long time”; he said and added that Tamil Nadu was now a
power-driven State where a lot of development was taking place.

Considering the increasing manufacturing cost, the Singapore companies
were moving to countries like China and Vietnam, he observed.

On the estimated cost of the new project, the Singapore Minister said
officials of both governments were working it out.

S Premjith, Director, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Harry Goh, Assistant Director, South Asia Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Eunice Lee, Country Officer, South Asia, Wong Choo Sin,
Assistant Director, South Asia Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ajit
Singh, Consul General in Chennai, Ramakrishnan Kukkila, centre director,
International Enterprise, Singapore accompanied the Singapore Minister.

The Tamil Nadu Government was represented by Small Industries Minister
Arcot N Veerasamy, Chief Secretary L K Tripathy and Industries Secretary
Shakthi Kanta Das.
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