SEZ land size to decide rehabilitation

BHARTI JAIN

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 06, 2007 12:08:19 AM]

NEW DELHI: The proposed rehabilitation policy may be giving jitters to
SEZ promoters but only 30-odd projects, that have got in-principle
clearance, will come under its ambit. The national rehabilitation and
resettlement policy for families displaced by mega projects, including
SEZs, proposes to cover only those projects which exceed 400 acres.

While land acquisition for 237 SEZ projects is complete, leaving them
out of the purview of the new resettlement policy, of the 162 SEZ
projects that have been given in-principle approval but are yet to
acquire land, only 30 are spread over 400 acres. Although the 400-acre
threshold is still under consultation among the different ministries —
some of which want it to be raised rather than cut down — the policy may
effectively leave out all but 30-odd SEZ proposals currently pending
with the government for approval.

In other words, only multi-product SEZs may have to adhere to the terms
of the proposed rehabilitation and resettlement policy that includes
providing a job and shares or some other benefit to the displaced
families. Incidentally, even the 400-acre threshold is facing opposition
from key ministries, including the defence, irrigation and transport and
highway ministries.

The defence ministry wants the limit to be raised to 1,000 acres while
the irrigation and transport ministry has expressed its inability to
provide a job to each and every displaced family where large tracts of
land are to be acquired. According to commerce ministry sources, of the
30 projects that may be covered by the new policy, 10-12 projects are
acquiring land by directly purchasing it from the farmers, leaving no
role for the state governments. Reliance is following this route for its
upcoming SEZ in Jhajjar, Haryana.

The commerce ministry is not ruling out the possibility of some of the
237 approved SEZs, where land acquisition is complete, opting out. Even
the multi-product SEZs, covered by the rehabilitation and resettlement
policy, may go in for a rethink after working out additional costs
involved in compensating the families displaced by it. According to a
commerce ministry projection, about 25% of the pending SEZ applications
may leave the race in view of the delays and additional costs.

This means that the new national rehabilitation and resettlement policy,
which will be put up for Cabinet approval soon, may not have a major
effect on the existing SEZ proposals. In fact, it may end up pushing up
the cost of major government projects, including textile parks, IT
parks, irrigation projects, highways and government buildings, as they
may now have to bear the additional burden of rehabilitating the
families displaced during land acquisition.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Policy/SEZ_land_size_to_decide_rehabilitation/articleshow/1565174.cms