Mundra SEZ expansion plan turned down

Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone Ltd (MPSEZ), a company promoted by billionaire Gautam Adani, has received a major jolt with a Union government panel rejecting its proposal to expand the SEZ area, reported DNA.

According to a state government official close to the development, the Board of Approval (BoA) on SEZs recently rejected the company's proposal to expand the SEZ area by 2008.41 hectares.

MPSEZ I and MPSEZ II, taken together, have a total area of 6,472.86 hectares. The company had requested for addition of more land, measuring 2008.41 hectares, to the already notified SEZ, thereby taking the total area to 8,481.27 hectares. But the BoA, at its meeting held in Delhi recently, rejected the proposal.

Interestingly, the state government had approved 10,000 hectares for the Adani's SEZ at Mundra. "Despite the state government's push to the company's proposal, the BoA on SEZs rejected the company's expansion plan," said the state government official.

The official further said that the Adani group has already taken possession of the 2,008.41 hectares. "The company claimed that the additional area applied for notification is contiguous to the already notified SEZ. Even the development commissioner, MPSEZ, Maya D Kem, had recommended the proposal.

But the BoA rejected the proposal on legal grounds," he said.
In its meeting, the board noted that in the present case, the SEZ is spread in more than 5000 hectares due to clubbing of two SEZs. It was noted that the total additional area proposed, consisting of four land parcels measuring 2008.41 hectares, are contiguous to the existing SEZ at different locations. Since, the access to these land parcels have to be provided only through the SEZ, each land parcel may not be considered as an independent SEZ, which could be considered for eventual integration in terms of the existing rules for clubbing of existing SEZs. BoA, therefore, after due deliberation came to the conclusion that the present proposal cannot be considered.

The BoA also deferred another proposal of the MPSEZ at the same meeting. The company had requested for making Hind Terminals Private Limited its co-developer in the SEZ for increasing the number of container freight stations (CFS). According to the board, there are already 10 CFS in the SEZ and another CFS may not be required as of now. So, it was felt that the requirement of additional CFS may be examined after fresh notification of the merged SEZ has been made. Accordingly, the board decided to defer the proposal.

Source: Transport Weekly