The Hindu Business Line : Sri City developing 5,000-acre SEZ near Chennai

Chennai, Jan. 20 Sri City Pvt Ltd is developing an over 5,000-acre special economic zone (SEZ) project 55 km north of Chennai towards Andhra Pradesh on the National Highway 5. The project cost is estimated at about Rs 2,500 crore of which Rs 1,000 crore will be deployed towards the first phase, according to Ms Raghini Peter, Vice-President, Business Development, Sri City.

Speaking to Business Line on the sidelines of a session on ‘Enabling business infrastructure’, organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, Ms Peter said the company had received notification from the Government to set up a multi-product SEZ in September and had recently completed land acquisition. It has obtained land in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh to be close to the Chennai, Ennore and Krishnapatnam ports.

Focus areas

The SEZ will focus on the manufacturing and engineering industries such as auto components, apparel and fashion, bio-technology, pharmaceuticals, hardware, electronics, logistics, warehousing, renewable energy, leather products, light engineering, sports and toys. The SEZ can support 400-500 business units, Ms Peter said. “We have signed memoranda of understanding with eight multinational companies which will occupy the space at the SEZ,” she said, but did not give further details.

About 65 per cent of the land acquired for the project will be put to industrial use and the rest will be used to provide housing and accommodation to employees.

Project schedule

In the first stage of the project, expected to be completed by December, basic infrastructure components such as space for business units, roads and specific construction work for clients will be made available. In the second phase, which will extend over 3-4 years, the company plans to focus on building roads, high intensity street lighting, digital data networks and an in-house waste management system. “There is already a broad gauge railway line running alongside the site. We have also obtained sanctions from the Andhra Pradesh Government to tap the Telugu Ganga project canals for our water and electricity requirements,” she said.

The project is expected to see a collective investment of about Rs 18,000 crore from the companies taking space here. When fully occupied, the SEZ is expected to generate an export turnover of about Rs 20,000 crore, Ms Peter said. It will provide direct employment to 1 lakh people and indirect employment to 75,000 people.

“Eventually, we will seek more land to expand the SEZ, depending on demand,” she said. Sri City Pvt Ltd is promoted by Megasoft Ltd’s promoter, Mr Ravindra Sannareddy, and some NRI investors. The Singapore-based Jurong Consultants are the master planners for the SEZ project. Detailed engineering would be done by the Singapore-based RSP Architects Planners and Engineers and CPG Consultant Pte Ltd.

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