Gujarat agency to acquire more than 50,000ha for industry
2 min read 23 Apr 2008, 12:26 AM IST
Gujarat agency to acquire more than 50,000ha for industry
Ahmedabad: The government-owned Gujarat Industrial Development Corp., or GIDC, plans to acquire more than 50,000ha to locate industries queuing up to invest big money in the western state, said a top official.
“Even if we have to pay a premium on market rates for some areas, we will look into it," said GIDC managing director Maheshwar Sahu, signalling the serious intent of the state’s nodal agency for industrial development that owns and monitors 171 industrial estates spread across 25,000ha.
The agency plans to grow the estates to 252 from 171 now.
Currently, GIDC owns just 1,000ha that it can lease to industrial estates. “This is quite insufficient as the proposals for land in GIDC estates are now coming from big industrial houses. When such units acquire land, they do it keeping in mind their expansion plans, unlike small and medium units," said an official who did not want to be named.
“We hope to complete the entire exercise (of aquiring land) by the end of this year and then look at setting up basic infrastructure in these estates such as roads, electrification, water and drainage," the GIDC official said.
The corporation is aggressively acquiring land between 800ha and 4,000ha at Dahej, Halol, Savli, Maroli, Dholera, Jamnagar, Pipavav, Surendranagar, Maroli and Anjar districts.
It also plans to acquire land at Bharuch, Surat, Baroda and Ahmedabad districts, and is looking at expanding its land bank in Saurashtra and Kutch regions.
Well aware that acquiring farmland for industry is not an easy task, the coporation is ready to provide alternate employment to the people it hopes to buy the land from, said the official.
According to another senior official at GIDC, the corporation may find it difficult to buy land. “Many in the private sector pay 60% of land cost by cheque and the rest by cash, but being a government body, GIDC cannot pay cash," he pointed out.
Sahu said the agency could compensate people willing to take the entire amount by cheque by paying a higher price.
According to a recent official report, Industries In Gujarat—Statistical Information, Jamnagar, Surat, Bharuch, Kutch and Baroda districts account for over 80% of the large projects commissioned in the state till 1 September 2007. Jamnagar accounts for 26% of these, followed by Surat (20%), Bharuch (17%), Kutch (9%), and Baroda (8%).
Jamnagar has seen maximum investment of Rs37,607 crore, followed by Surat (Rs28,648 crore), Bharuch (Rs24,894 crore), Kutch (Rs13,459 crore), and Baroda (Rs11,580 crore) till 1 September, the report noted.
These five districts also scored in terms of projects that are being implemented. While Kutch leads the pack with projects worth Rs74,688 crore in the pipeline, Bharuch has projects worth Rs38,200 crore under implementation.
Projects worth Rs25,220 crore are being executed in Surat and Rs14,601 crore worth of projects are under way at Jamnagar. Baroda has projects worth Rs4,668 crore under implementation.
