PANAJI
Chief Minister, Laxmikant Parsekar, said the State government is under negotiations for an out of court settlement to unlock 36.4 lakh square meters of special economic zone (SEZ) land stuck in litigation.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 108th annual general meeting of Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI). Parsekar, said, “We have to negotiate outside the court and only then go the court”.
Goa is a small State with very limited land base. A number of industrial estates don’t have plots, where new industries can be accommodated. There is a clear shortage of industrial land in the State.
At the same time, the Investment Promotion Board (IPB) has already cleared 98 projects and brought in Rs 14,000 crore of investment. The IPB is aimed at bringing Rs 25,000 crore of investment into Goa, which means more projects will be cleared in future.
More projects means more industrial land will be required. This makes it extremely important for the State government to unlock 36.4 lakh square meters of land stuck in SEZs.
But, when asked at what exact stage the negotiations were on, Parsekar declined to give specific details.
It may be recalled that the promoters of SEZs had ‘in-principle’ agreed to the BJP-led government’s proposal of ‘compromise cum settlement’.
Five of the seven SEZ promoters “ K Raheja & Corporation, Peninsula Pharma Research Centre, Planetview Mercantile Co, Inox Mercantile Company and Paradigm Logistics & Distribution “ who had approached the Supreme Court, were ready for an amicable solution to the pending issue, to unlock the land. The promoters were willing to talk with Goa Industrial Development Corporation to settle the issue.
Meanwhile, the chief minister said that he will set up a tracking system to monitor the progress of investment projects approved by the IPB.
“There are many regulations to set up industries. But, if an officer starts using these regulations as a bottleneck, things will not move. That’s why an electronic tracking system to monitor proposals that have been cleared is a must”, he said.
