Over 23K hectares land for special economic zones development lying vacant

As much as 23,779 hectares of land marked for the development of special economic zones is lying vacant, Parliament was informed Monday. "In respect of 369 notified SEZs (including 7 central government SEZs and 11 State/Private Sector SEZs), 23,779.20 hectares of land is vacant in these SEZs as on 30.08.2017," Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

He said that land for setting up of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) is acquired by the state governments as per the policy and procedures of the respective states. The Board of Approval (BoA), chaired by the commerce secretary, for SEZs only considers proposals for setting up of new zones which have been duly recommended by the state government, he added. Exports from these SEZs grew by about 15 per cent to Rs 5.52 lakh crore in 2017-18.