Govt ask RIL, 11 others to seek fresh SEZ licence

Earlier this month, the Inter-ministerial Board of Approval (BoA) asked these developers to apply afresh along with recommendations of the respective state governments, an official said, adding the SEZ rules do not permit giving third extensions. The Reliance Haryana SEZ was given an in-principle approval way back in March 2006. Subsequently, two more extensions were given and the proposals were valid till March 2009.

The SEZ was to originally come up on 10,000 hectares at an investment of over Rs 25,000 crore. Then the project size was subsequently scaled down to 5,000 hectares after the Government capped the size of SEZs. Posco India had approached the BoA for third extension to implement its Rs 54,000-crore SEZ project in Orissa.

The other developers which have to file fresh applications include Quippo Infrastructure Equipment &Nanded Gems SEZ in Maharashtra, India Steel Corp SEZ in Gujarat, and Rockman Projects in Punjab.