The Tamil Nadu government’s ambitious programme to promote Information Technology SEZs in Tier-II cities has hit a roadblock, as infrastructure bottlenecks have forced several firms to reschedule their plans and others to pull out.
IT majors like HCL Technologies, Satyam Ltd and Sutherland Global Services, which were allotted land at two SEZs near Madurai and Tiruchirappalli, have asked for a refund of their lease amounts, citing infrastructure and transport bottlenecks.
The two IT-SEZs at Madurai are among eight set up by the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu near major cities in the state at a cost of over Rs 200 crore to promote investments in Tier-II cities.
The others are at Sholinganallur, near Chennai, Vilankurichi (near Coimbatore), Vadapalanji-Kinnimangalam (in Madurai), Navalpattu (in Tiruchirapalli), Gangaikondan (in Tirunelveli), Jagir-Ammapalayam (in Salem) and Viswanathapuram (in Hosur).
Asked about the issue, a government official said they would undertake aggressive marketing to promote these IT-SEZs. “We will take up marketing campaigns to promote the SEZs,” he said.