West Bengal to push SEZs into backward districts

Several projects cleared recently in other areas

BS Reporter / Kolkata October 10, 2006



The government of West Bengal does not want more multiproduct special
economic zones (SEZs) in the southern districts of West Bengal.

Rather it is keen to see multiproduct SEZs in industrially backward
districts like Bankura, Birbhum, Purulia, West Medinipur and north Bengal.

The state industry secretary, Sabyasachi Sen, said that the government
would try to attract SEZ developers into backward districts.

All the multiproduct SEZs approved last week were in the industrially
advanced districts of East Medinipur and North 24 Parganas.

"We have lot of proposals for multiproduct SEZs but now the government
wants to set up multiproduct SEZ's in backward districts, because
multiproduct SEZs require lot of land which is not there in southern
Bengal," he said. The central government's inter-ministerial group for
approval of SEZs recently cleared eight proposals in West Bengal.

These included two SEZs of the Indonesia-based Salim group at Haldia,
three SEZs of Videocon group and one SEZ each from the Hyderabad-based
Ramky group, Salarpuria and SEZ Infrastructure Development Ltd.

The SEZs of the Salim group would be located at Haldia in east Medinipur.

Videocon would build its SEZs in east Medinipur and North 24 Parganas
districts.

The other SEZs were all along the river Hoogly.

"The central committee has approved eight proposals out of 24 for the
state, and all are in either east Midinipur or in North 24 Parganas. We
shall now enter into agreements with SEZ developers," Sen said.

The Salim group was developing a chemical and a multiproduct SEZ on
22,500 acres. Videocon would develop two multiproduct SEZs at Kharagpur
and Kalyavil near Taki road in north 24 Parganas, with combined land
requirement of close to 5,000 acre. The land requirement for Ramky,
Salarpuria and SEZ Infrastructure would be 500 acres each.
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