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The Gautam Adani-led Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd (APSEZ) has finally got the Central government’s nod to set up its proposed 1,856-hectare multi-product special economic zone in Mundra, Gujarat, after being kept on hold for years over contiguity (connectivity) and location issues.
The approval, however, comes with a rider that the company secure independent access to the zone within six months so that goods from the SEZ do not get mixed with those from outside.
The Adani Group operates the country’s largest port-based multi-product SEZ, in Mundra, over 6,473 hectares.
“The Board of Approval for SEZs, in its recent meeting, observed that the company had the required land and the Home Ministry’s permission for setting up the proposed new multi-product SEZ, and gave it the go-ahead,” a Commerce Ministry official told BusinessLine .
Taking cognisance of the Revenue Department’s concern that without a properly sealed independent access route to the proposed zone, which is adjacent to the company’s existing SEZ, there may be revenue leakage due to mixing of SEZ goods with those made outside, the BoA has instructed the developer to put adequate preventive measures in place.
It has asked APSEZ to construct a boundary wall on both sides along the independent access and a dedicated fenced corridor within six months of receiving the approval. A boundary wall needs to be constructed to separate the new SEZ from the existing SEZ and the Domestic Tariff (non-SEZ) area.
Tight supervisionThe BoA, which includes senior officials from key ministries, including Commerce, Finance and Home, also instructed that the seafront of the new SEZ shall be patrolled by the customs/coast guard, the cost of which shall be borne by the developer.
The UPA government had in 2012 revoked an earlier permission granted to the company for the SEZ (for 1,840 hectares) on the ground that it did not meet contiguity norms and that the site was land-locked.
An SEZ needs to come up on a single block of land and wherever there is a break in contiguity or continuation, a linkage has to be established through suitable structures like bridges or under-bridges.
The company re-applied for permission for the zone the following year after including 16 hectares more in the proposed zone, which, it said, would take care of the contiguity issue.
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