The Hindu Business Line : Slow progress in 12 SEZs, says Parsvnath

Delhi-based real estate company Parsvnath Developers on Friday said that work on 12 of its proposed Special Economic Zones (SEZs) is proceeding at a slow pace as the land acquisition for those projects was not yet complete.

“Five SEZs, including those located in Indore, Dehradun, Hyderabad and Gurgaon, are in the final stages of sanction and the land has already been purchased. However, for 12 SEZs the work is slow because of the overall environment, and also the land acquisition is not complete,” said the Parsvnath Developers Chairman, Mr Pradeep Jain.

These SEZs are located in Chennai, Agra, Muradabad, Pune, Jaipur, Ajmer and Bangalore. The company has in-principle approval for these SEZs, he said.

“The construction in the other five SEZs will start after getting all the sanctions from the State Government. It will take about 3-4 months,” he added.

Stung by the slump in demand and the tight liquidity, real estate companies earlier this week asked the Government to cut interest rates on home loans further, extend incentives for home loans up to Rs 30 lakh, and restructure debt of developers, in order to the boost flagging demand.

The realtors, who met the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, have also said that income tax rebate on home loans should be doubled to Rs 3 lakh.

They have also asked the government to increase exemption limit for rental income. The industry has also favoured re-introduction of concession given under Section 80 I B(10) to encourage low-cost housing.

Mr Jain had told newspersons that the interest rates should be brought down to 6.5 per cent for loans up to Rs 5 lakh, 7.5 per cent for loans in the bracket of Rs 5 lakh to Rs 30 lakh, and 9.5 per cent for borrowings above Rs 30 lakh.