The proposed Coastal Economic Zones will hereafter be called Coastal Employment Zones and initially one CEZ each will be developed on the east and west coast of the country, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya said today.
"Our idea is to start with a small number (of CEZs) and make them effective. This is a very different concept and we want the CEZs to be vehicles for creating a large number of jobs," Panagariya said while addressing a press conference along with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu here.
"Initially, the thought was that too many CEZs are not good. (Creation of) employment is the issue here. To achieve success, we should go slow. The idea is to provide the right ecosystem," Panagariya pointed out.
One of the CEZs would come up in Gujarat on the west coast and the other in Andhra Pradesh in the east, he added.
"Last week, we visited Gujarat and discussed the possibilities of CEZs there. In fact, two clear possibilities came out during our discussions with AP Chief Minister here today.
"AP itself can have two CEZs (Gangavaram-Visakhapatnam node and Krishnapatnam node). We are looking at both. If necessary, we will make a field visit to the ports before taking a final call," he said.
Panagariya said the Central government should come up with an incentive package, which should be employment-based, and also some financial package to kickstart CEZ projects.
Asked about the prospects of CEZs when SEZs (Special Economic Zones) have not yielded the desired results, he said that SEZs' "design was not proper".
"They have become land issues and real-estate ventures. But the CEZ is very different. Employment is the issue here and the whole point is creation of wealth," he said, adding that one area where India did not do very well was in establishing employment-intensive industries.
"The CEZs will come up in a large extent, say 400-500 sq km area, and within that there will be clusters. Idea is to create an ecosystem to bring large scale manufacturers that provide jobs to semi or low-skilled workers.
"In China, wages are 3-4 times more than in India. Consequently, a lot of projects and jobs are going to Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia. Now we want them to come to India," he said.
Replying to a query, he said CEZs are part of the Sagarmala project and "we have given a little bit of direction to it".
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