Commerce Ministry extends SEZ projects of Tata Steel and Saraf Agencies
Business Standar reported that the Board of Approvals under Union Commerce & Industry Ministry has extended the validity of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) proposed by Tata Steel and Saraf Agencies, both in south Odisha. The BoA has agreed to extend the formal approval of Gopalpur SEZ up to December 17, 2016.
The resident commissioner (Odisha) clarified to the BoA that the state government had already registered 500 hectares in favour of the SEZ, and it is committed to register the balance 673 hectares. The BoA has instructed the development commissioner, Falta SEZ, to coordinate with the state government in this regard. The BoA also agreed to process the notification for 500 hectares already registered in favour of the SEZ.
Tata Steel is the anchor tenant for the multi-product SEZ coming up at Gopalpur in south Odisha. The Gopalpur SEZ has the potential to attract investments of the order of Rs 15,000 crore. Investments are expected to flow in areas like defence, electronics, LEDs (light emitting diodes) and solar cells. Tata Steel has roped in Ernst & Young as the consultant for the project while Singapore-based Jurong has been engaged for designing the master plan. As an anchor tenant, Tata Steel is developing 55,000 tonne per annum ferro chrome plant at an estimated cost of Rs 541 crore. The plant is scheduled to be commissioned by December this year.
Apart from Tata Steel's multi product SEZ, the BoA in its recent meeting also extended the validity of the formal approval granted to Sarag Agencies for setting up of a sector specific SEZ at Chhatrapur, in Ganjam district. Saraf Agencies is investing Rs 1,200 crore on a titanium dioxide plant at Chhatrapur. In the first phase, the company will produce 10,000 tonne per annum (tpa) of high titanium slag and 6,000 tpa of high purity pig iron.
Source : Business Standard