TATAS HIRE SINGAPORE FIRM FOR SEZ
Yassir A Pitalwalla, June 22, 2009
Financial Chronicle
Tata Realty & Infrastructure (TRIL), Tata Group?s real estate and infrastructure development arm, has hired Singapore-based Jurong International as the master planner for its special economic zone (SEZ) project in Gopalpur (Orissa).
?We have shortlisted Jurong for this important project,? said a Tata group official. Jurong offers design and build, consultancy, construction, and facilities management services and its India office is located in Hyderabad.
The multi-product SEZ, with all infrastructure facilities and required amenities, will cost the group nearly $ 1billion.
So far, Jurong has done master plans for 380,000 hectares, 10 million square meters of industrial land and 5.8 million square meters of residential space.
The SEZ in Gopalpur will focus on minerals, mining and associated industries. At present, Tata Steel possesses the land slotted for SEZ. In 1995, Tata Steel acquired the land for Rs 150 crore to set up a 2.5 million tonne per annum port-based steel plant in Orissa and spent. This plan had to be abandoned due to lack of amenities such as adequate water and iron ore linkages at the site. Now, Tata Steel is putting up a multi-million tonnes per annum steel plant at Kalinganagar in Orissa.
?We plan to focus on industries that are downstream value-added in the metals and minerals space and allied industries such as gem and jewellery for the SEZ, which is planned to come up in 2,900 acres. The land is already in our possession and the necessary approvals are in place. So we expect that this development will not face any land acquisition related problems,? a TRIL official said.
?The positioning of the SEZ has been made keeping in mind the advantages of the local area and infrastructure such as a functioning port that?s capable of deep draught, an air strip and railway slidings that could be utilised by the industrial units in the zone,? added the official.
TRIL has also been tasked with developing several SEZ projects of the group, including one in Tamil Nadu that will also have a star hotel by the Tata-controlled Indian Hotels.
TRIL is also constructing eight SEZs across the country for Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The SEZs that will have TCS as the anchor tenant are being set up at Hinjewadi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Nagpur and Mangalore.
IT?S WAIT & WATCH FOR IT FIRMS ON STPI
Parag Dave, Ahmedabad, June 22, 2009
The Economic Times (Kolkata edition)
The IT sector is awaiting government?s decision on continuation of the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) scheme. If the scheme is extended in the budget, the players would prefer to expand under the scheme. This will lead to some SEZ developers reduce their SEZ size and opt for developing the non-SEZ IT space for the industry.
However, if the government decides against granting a fresh lease of life to the scheme, the companies will have to chalk out plans for shifting to the SEZs. The K Raheja group that has plans to invest more than Rs 1,200 crore for IT SEZ, Mindspace, near Gandhinagar, is waiting for the government?s move to shrink the SEZ area and locate units based in STPI to the new area. ?Out of the total 93 acres, 67 acres is notified as IT SEZ and rest we will offer to the companies which do not want to set up units in SEZ.
We are planning to develop 15 buildings and within a few months, we will have the first building ready.
"We are in the final stage of discussions with 12 IT/ITeS companies. We are waiting for the budget, which will give direction to the IT industry,? K Raheja Corp Gujarat head Pankaj Kotak said.
According to him, if the STPI scheme is extended, there will be a new round of expansion in the IT sector. Companies located in IT hubs like Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune will seek new cheaper destinations for expansion. ?Our clients located in these IT hubs and even in Gujarat, are waiting for the budget. We have significant land to develop some buildings for the companies operating in STPI. We are seriously thinking to shrink the size of SEZ in case the scheme is extended,? Kotak added.
The STPI scheme extension will create huge demand for non-SEZ space and therefore, Raheja may apply to denotify significant land from SEZ to develop more non-SEZ space. According to the official, it is mandatory to develop 25 acres as SEZ and the company would keep more than 25 acres under SEZ. If the government does not extend STPI scheme, there will be major difficulties for BPOs and KPOs. They will come under heavy tax burden and opt to go to SEZ.