UP clears land for R-ADAG's Noida SEZ

The UP government has approved the allotment of 2,500 acres of land worth Rs 6,000 crore to the Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG) for setting up of a special economic zone at Noida.

This is the first such approval by the state government since the new SEZ policy was announced last July. A consortium of three R-ADAG companies "" Reliance One World, Reliance Energy Ltd and Reliance Infocomm "" will set up the multi-product SEZ.

The group had applied for land at Noida soon after the policy was announced. Noida's (New Okhla Industrial Development Authority's) board had already approved the proposal cleared by the Cabinet here yesterday.

The 2,500 acres will be given on lease to the consortium.

A meeting of the Noida board on September 1 had put the R-ADAG proposal on hold as it was not in accordance with the SEZ policy. The proposal was cleared by the board after the objections were taken care of.

Official sources denied that the government had been partial to R-ADAG. They said 20 proposals had been received since the announcement of the new SEZ policy.

Under the policy, the government has done away with the process of inviting bids for land allotment to prospective developers, as is done by the Centre. In its place, a first-come first-serve system has been introduced.

The government has placed SEZs in three categories: in category A, Noida and Greater Noida will be the nodal agencies; category B will deal with SEZs in areas where there are industrial development authorities; category C will deal with SEZs in areas where no development authorities exist. In such areas, the UP State Industrial Development Corporation will be the nodal agency.