Hyderabad.26.09.2024: Out of 57 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Telangana, 19 have become non-functional, according to a recent report by the Central Government. Among these is the 900-acre Fab City SEZ located in Raviryala village, Maheshwaram mandal, near the international airport at Shamshabad. A significant portion of the Fab City SEZ was denotified after the state government requested it.
Fab City, which was approved in 2007, was initially set up to manufacture semiconductors and included a free trade and warehousing zone spread over 1,070 acres. However, only 170 acres remain within the SEZ now. There are also proposals to denotify at least 10 more SEZs in the state.
Three additional SEZs have been denotified, including one owned by Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC) in Genome Valley, and two privately-owned SEZs in Pocharam village, Ghatkesar, and Puppalguda. Once denotified, these SEZs can be repurposed for other industrial uses.
Several challenges have led to the downfall of these SEZs. For example, in Kancha Imarat, defense authorities objected to the construction of tall buildings near their land, while in Karkapatla, the SEZ’s approval expired due to land disputes. In places like Pocharam and Puppalguda, developers sought government permission to denotify the SEZs because of low demand for space.
TGIIC Chairman and Managing Director, E. Vishnu Vardhan Reddy, explained that most of the Fab City SEZ was denotified at the request of some industrial units. However, about 500 acres of land in Fab City are tied up in legal disputes, as some allottees took the matter to court after their land allotments were canceled.
The Centre has also canceled private SEZs like Mindspace Parks Private Ltd, which had an IT/ITES SEZ at Pocharam on 11 acres, and 10 acres of Phoenix Spaces IT SEZ in Puppalguda. Additionally, a biotechnology SEZ covering 25 acres in Genome Valley, proposed by TGIIC, was also denotified.
