IANS

Panaji, Mar 25: Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat Thursday said several hundred hectares of land, acquired for 12 special economic zones (SEZ) proposed in the state but now lying "frozen", will now be utilised for industrial development.

Presenting the budget in the Goa assembly, as he also holds the finance portfolio, Kamat said that Goa was going through a severe land crunch as far as industrial development was concerned.

"Many large industrial houses intend to establish their units in Goa. However, the non-availability of sufficient industrial plots is acting as a constraint for their establishment," he said, adding that a -pronged strategy was essential to address the critical land resource problem.

"The second strategy shall aim at releasing land under SEZ's for which no notification was issued," Kamat said.

He also that to redress the issue of shrinking land resources available for industrial development, a task force would be set up "to study, identify and submit a report on all such industrial plots which have either remained unutilised for the last two years".

"Listing will be done on units closed with reasons for closure. Once such data is made available, ways to takeover and reutilise the same would be devised," Kamat said.

The Goa government had proposed 15 SEZ projects throughout the state five years back. However, a string of popular public agitations had forced the state government to scrap 12 of the SEZ projects, which were not notified.

The three remaining notified SEZ were subsequently scrapped by the Kamat-led coalition government and are awaiting de-notification from the union Commerce Ministry.