Karnataka readies for new development policy

The Karnataka government plans to formulate a comprehensive urban development policy, to instill systematic growth in the state's towns and cities. The policy, envisioned for 30-40 years, will be formulated following discussions with urban development and planners. State urban bodies are required to identify and reserve land for distribution to the public for housing construction. Urban development authorities have been advised to prepare master plans, implement them and revise them every 10 years, for healthy development. The policy will encourage coordination between stateowned authorities and private land developers in preparing development plans.

A new SEZ Act for Punjab

Punjab government intends to see SEZ projects being implemented in the state without delay, for which it plans creating an SEZ Act. At present, the state refers to the SEZ Policies to approve SEZ proposals, wherein SEZ developers undergo the lengthy procedure of seeking separate permissions from Pollution Control Board, Town Planning and Revenue departments. The new policy will guide SEZ developers on procedures to be followed for preparation and approvals at different project stages. A single-window clearance will be set up to fasten required clearances.

Large SEZs await local governance bodies

The Ministry of Commerce & Industry is holding talks with state governments, to prepare guidelines for large SEZs to have their own local governance bodies, similar to municipal corporations. These bodies may either be modelled as townships developed by state industrial development authorities like the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority or Noida in Uttar Pradesh, or as Jamshedpur, where a corporate house undertakes civic infrastructure. The governance bodies will be established only in large SEZs, including multi-product zones and big sectorspecific SEZs. Small zones ranging between 10 ha and 50 ha, especially from the Infotech sector, will not be eligible for such bodies.

New textile policy to be reviewed by Karnataka Cabinet

A new textile policy will soon be placed before the Karnataka Cabinet for approval. An amount of Rs.500 crore has been earmarked under the policy for five years, for creating 5 lakh jobs. Under the policy, the government will offer subsidies to purchase textile machinery, reduce stamp duty on registration of property and provide loans on low interest.

Limiting clause discarded for highway projects

The Finance Ministry has decided to delete the controversial 3.5.2 clause that limits the number of financial bidders to five or six, for all future PPP highway projects. The clause stating that only the top five or six technically qualified applicants can be invited for participation in the financial bid stage for PPP projects, was part of the model RfQs document, issued by Finance Ministry and prepared by Planning Commission. The Planning Commission intended to remove the non-serious buyers through this clause. The same has however been legally contested by companies in the Port sector and by road developers. Following the complaints from highway and port companies, the Finance Ministry had set up a committee to review the clause.

Integrated energy policy seeks Cabinet nod

The government plans to introduce a draft integrated energy policy before the Union Cabinet, by October 2008. The policy is likely to bring consistency across various sectors in energy generation and distribution. The policy report seeks to make energy markets more competitive, have market-determined energy pricing and resource allocation, transparent and targeted subsidy disbursal, and improved efficiency.