i Develop Stocks Advisory

Minister favours lifting the cap on SEZ size Less than a year after the empowered Group of Ministers had imposed a land ceiling of 5,000 hectares on Special Economic Zones, Mr Kamal Nath, the Commerce and Industry Minister, has strongly favoured lifting the cap stating many states want l arge sized SEZs. "We are looking at it (the 5000 hectare land ceiling). There are some states, which want large SEZs. One cannot have a port SEZ in Madhya Pradesh. Likewise one cannot have a similar policy in Kerala as you have in Madhya Pradesh. There cannot be a 'one-s ize-fits-all' policy in the nature of our States," Mr Nath said. The empowered Group of Ministers, headed by External Affairs Minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee, had imposed a 5000-hectare ceiling on SEZs last year following widespread protests over land acquisition. The meeting of the GoM, scheduled for February 4 to revie w the land ceiling was cancelled. Lifting of the land ceiling would help big developers like Reliance Industries, DLF, Omaxe and Ascendas who had planned mega multi-product SEZs. The Commerce Ministry had earlier submitted a proposal before the GoM favouring relaxation of rules on land size arguing that concerns over displacement have been addressed in the legislation-backed resettlement and rehabilitation policy. - PTI