The denotification of IT Special Economic Zone on Hill No. 2 of Madhurawada by the Ministry of Commerce has not only ended the agonising wait by the allottees for freedom in decision-making but also will provide ready-made space of 0.5 million square feet in Rushikonda area for plug and play operators.
The zone located in the vicinity of Millennium Tower and Sunrise Incubation Hub is now home for IT players, including Symbiosys, Mahati, Nunet, Navayuga, Clove Tech, Asian Infotech, Soft Sol, Color Chips and Sankhya. After several representations, finally the Centre, on the recommendation of Development Commissioner for 100% EoUs and Visakhapatnam Special Economic Zone, Duvvada, issued notification recently de-notifying the SEZ at Madhurawada.
The allottees, who originally bought the land at ₹10 lakh per acre from VUDA, were forced to convert the land deals from ownership to lease-deed as the area was subsequently notified as SEZ by the Centre.
The allottees, who had reluctantly succumbed to pressure, are now happy that the status of their lands is ‘back to square one.’
One of the main reasons by the allottees to demand denotification from the rooftops was due to their failure to use entire space created by them. “We have created over one million sft but over five lakh sft is lying idle. This is mainly because as SEZ unit we don’t have powers to let it out to outsiders,” Rushikonda IT Park Association vice-president O. Naresh Kumar told The Hindu .
A CEO of a company said one of the handicaps being in SEZ was their inability to partner with other companies and taking loan by mortgaging the land documents. He attributed the unused space to failure of the government to create comprehensive ecosystem which was promised over a decade and half ago.
Though the proposal for denotification by the State was cleared nearly two years ago, it took some time due to procedural delays and returning of the benefits availed by the allottees as an unit in SEZ running into crores of rupees.
Visakhapatnam is the largest IT exporter in Andhra Pradesh with the turnover estimated at around ₹2,000 crore.
