Exclusive Marine Economic Zone in India Hits Dead End ff

The first exclusive marine product Special Economic Zone (SEZ) on the east coast hit a dead end with officials of the Kochi-based central undertaking Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) raising objections to the site identified by the state government at Kara Agraharam near Machilipatnam.

The SEZ project was cleared this January by the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) at its meeting at Kochi chaired by Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar.

Recently, MPEDA officials rejected the site of 260 acres identified by the fisheries department saying the area was prone to vagaries of nature and was under constant threat from cyclonic storms.

Highly-placed sources in the government said that the since most of marine exporters were based in and around Visakhapatnam , they played spoilsport by misinforming MPEDA officials that Machilipatnam was not a suitable place for establishing a marine SEZ. “These marine exporters do not want the SEZ processing units to come up near Machilipatnam. That is why they are keen on scuttling the project,” they said.

The marine authority had appointed Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited (ILFS) as its consultant to study the feasibility of the SEZ at Machilipatnam and based on its recommendations, the former approved the project. The SEZ, a joint venture between the state government and MPEDA, had the potential of generating 10,000 jobs in the district. Official sources said that MPEDA officials showed interest in another site of 450 acre near Pamarru, 25 km from Machilipatnam in Krishna district, which is mostly, agricultural land. However, with local legislators putting their foot down against acquiring fertile land for SEZs, the district administration wrote back to the government.

Later, the government identified alternative sites in Kakinada and Vizag. However, MPEDA officials were yet to renew their interest in these areas. The marine SEZ is being developed to create facilities for tuna processing, shells and other marine products with the active involvement of 40 private players.