Chandigarh, September 17
Reeling under a financial crunch and slump in demand for commercial space, at least two special economic zone (SEZ) developers have now approached the SEZ Board of Approval for withdrawal of their SEZs proposed in Punjab.
These developers — Mridul Infrastructure Private Limited and Vividha Infrastructure Private Limited - have sought the withdrawal of the formal approval granted to them in August 2006 for setting up their tax-free enclaves at Rajpura near Patiala. While Mridul Infrastructure had proposed to set up a textile sector specific SEZ at Rajpura, Vividha had proposed to set up an SEZ for engineering sector.The issue, along with the withdrawal of approvals for eight other SEZs, will be taken up by the Board of Approvals in the Ministry of Commerce in its meeting on October 5. Besides the two above mentioned, withdrawal of approvals has been sought for three SEZs in Maharashtra, two in Tamil Nadu and one each in West Bengal, Kerala and Karnataka.
According to official sources, both Mridul Infrastructure and Vividha Infrastructure had sought permission for withdrawal of approvals in June also. “The issue was taken up in a meeting of the Board of Approvals on June 2. The two developers had reportedly said the Punjab government had failed to have its state SEZ policy in place and they could not hold on to their investments for so long. However, after an assurance was given by the Punjab government that the policy would be formulated soon, the decision was deferred by the board. However, the developers have again demanded for withdrawal of the approvals granted to them, citing global recession as the reason,” said a senior official.
With the economy showing signs of a slowdown since September last year, there has been virtually no demand for commercial space.
