The Commerce Ministry is pushing hard for a major relaxation in rules whereby promoters would not have to build expensive bridges over a public road, a railway line or a drain canal passing through special economic zones (SEZ).
As per the SEZ rules, if a public utility service like a road or a water supply line passes through a tax-free enclave, its contiguity gets disturbed which, in turn, needs to established by construction of flyovers.
However, on representations from the developers, the Commerce Ministry has been insisting on meetings of the inter-ministerial Board of Approval (BoA) over the relaxation of the provision, sources said. The issue came up in the last meeting of the BoA. While it was agreed that there should be a policy and not a case-to-case approach on contiguity, the issue was yet to be clinched, they said.
