By IANS
New Delhi : The central government will hold discussions with 12 of Goa’s special economic zone (SEZ) developers. The state government has recommended the scrapping of these SEZs.
The government will hold separate meetings with developers whose SEZs have already been given a final go-ahead, Commerce and Industry Secretary G.K. Pillai said here Monday.
Pillai heads the Board of Approvals (BoA) for SEZ projects in the country.
The three notified SEZs in Goa are Cipla’s Meidtab Specialities, Raheja’s IT-ITeS SEZ and Peninsula Pharma’s biotech SEZ. Cipla has so far invested Rs.1.3 billion in its SEZ and plans to put in more.
The ministry has also decided to issue show-cause notices to 12 SEZs that have received formal and “in-principle” approvals but are yet to be notified.
They would be asked to show reasons why their projects should not be cancelled, Pillai said.
He also said proposals that were earlier forwarded by the Goa government for BoA’s consideration stood “withdrawn”.
The state government decided Dec 31 to cancel all SEZs that have been set up and those that were in the pipeline, in response to extensive public agitation.
This had also induced the BoA to seek the central law ministry’s help, which has asked that the developers be paid compensation in the light of their projects being cancelled.
The BoA, in its 22nd meeting Monday, took up eight fresh proposals for consideration and three for in-principle approvals, which consisted of a proposal by the Videocon Reality and Infrastructures Ltd in West Bengal.
The board has so far granted formal approvals to 439 proposals, of which 200 have been notified.