An extent of 18,000 acres has been acquired so far for setting up special economic zones (SEZs) in Andhra Pradesh. Of this, 15,000 acres, including 11,274 acres of patta land and 4,000 acres of government land, has been acquired by the AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC). Private developers have acquired the balance 2,700 and odd acres, according to Major Industries Minister J Geeta Reddy.
Disclosing this at a press conference here on Wednesday, she said the land acquired for SEZs was negligible considering that the cropped area in the state was of the order of 30 million acres. Besides, care has been taken to acquire dry land to the extent possible. Of the patta land acquired, 9451 acres was dry land.
The minister said the state had the highest number of 54 notified SEZs in the country followed by Tamil Nadu (40), Karnataka (20), Gujarat (19), Haryana (18), Kerala (8) and West Bengal (6).The SEZs in the state would provide direct and indirect employment to 2.5 million people.