Rahejas to develop 5 SEZs in next 5-7 years

K Raheja Corp, the real estate major, plans to develop about five IT-focused special economic zones (SEZs) in the country in the next 5-7 years. Each SEZ would take an investment of Rs 500 crore-Rs 1,000 crore.

"Besides the two SEZs that are being developed in Andhra Pradesh, we are planning to set up three others. We have shortlisted cities like Mumbai and Goa for this purpose," CL Raheja, chairman of K Raheja Corp, said on the sidelines of a press conference in Hyderabad. Apparently Gujarat is also on the company's radar for the same.

Raheja declined to mention the land size of the SEZs saying that it would depend on the approvals that they would get.

However, it is learnt that each SEZ would be at least over 100 acres in size. The ones that are being developed in Andhra Pradesh have got in-principle approval for SEZ status.

K Raheja Corp has developed three million sft of space at the 110-acre IT Park in Andhra Pradesh "� Mindspace Cyberabad "� in joint venture with the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation. Another five million sft of space will be developed in the next 3-4 years. This calls for an investment of Rs 300 crore-Rs 400 crore apart from the Rs 200 crore that has been spent so far.

The list of tenants at the IT Park includes Bank of America, Verizon, Accenture and Oracle among others. Mindspace Cyberabad claims to have created 15,000 jobs and will add another 70,000 jobs in the next three-four years.

The company is also setting up a more than 300-room hotel and a 3.5 lakh to 4 lakh sft shopping mall at Mindspace Cyberabad.

K Raheja Corp is also developing a 105-acre IT Park at Pocharam in Andhra Pradesh which will have seven million sft of space. Meanwhile, Raheja said that the company was also interested in setting up convention centres in the country.