The government is likely to issue soon a draft policy to ease the mandatory land contiguity norms for setting up SEZs, a move that may bring down the cost of such projects.
The inter-ministerial Board of Approval (BoA) has asked the Commerce Ministry to formulate the draft policy.
"...A draft policy in this regard be framed and placed before it (BoA) for consideration," the minutes of 39th BoA meeting held here on April 9 said.
Contiguity of land is a prerequisite for notifying a piece of land as an SEZ. Establishing contiguity means building under-passes or fly-overs to connect two pieces of land bisected by a highway or a water body.
The BoA desired for the draft policy while taking up request of a developer regarding relaxation of contiguity condition for a multi-product SEZ in Pune through which a public road passes.
The developer had proposed a flyover to maintain the contiguity of the SEZ.
While approving the request, the board opined that expenditure on building flyovers on public roads puts considerable economic strain on the developer and "ultimately impacts the viability" of the project.
"Like in the case of electric transmission lines passing through the SEZs, which are not considered to affect the contiguity, the same principle could be adopted in respect of public roads, cart tracks etc. Passing through the non – processing area of the SEZs," the minutes said.
Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are legal entities solely for the purpose of exports.
