Pillai: Green signal

New Delhi, Sept. 18: The board of approval for special economic zones (SEZs) today gave the go-ahead to three Mukesh Ambani-promoted IT projects in Navi Mumbai.

Chaired by commerce secretary G.K. Pillai, the board considered 19 proposals and approved 10 projects.

It cleared Mundra Port’s proposal for a 1,074-hectare multi-product zone in Gujarat and a 10-hectare IT facility of Tata Consultancy Services in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

Proposals to get in-principle approvals include Jindal Worldwide’s 101-hectare textile project in Gujarat and Arshhiya Technologies’ 68-hectare facility in Maharashtra.

For its three projects, Mukesh’s Navi Mumbai SEZ Private Limited had sought the government’s approval to include seven co-developers for building infrastructure.

About Rs 6,000 crore would be invested by the co-developers in power plants, communication systems, water supply etc.

Pillai said the board had deferred its decision on four projects in Uttar Pradesh, including the proposals of Unitech Hi-tech and DLF, because the developers were yet to get possession of land.

Formal approvals have been given to 386 SEZs, of which the government has notified 149.

Total investment in the notified zones has been Rs 47,732 crore with jobs for about 41,000.

Pillai said the government had identified around 100 proposals for cancellation.

These proposals had no backing from state governments.

He said the promoters can apply again with state support.