Sigaddi may see open-ended scheme

Having received nearly 50 applications, the government-owned State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corp-oration of Uttarakhand Limited (Sidcul) is likely to adopt an open-ended scheme for the sale of industrial plots at its prestigious Sigaddi growth centre in Pauri district.

Sidcul said fresh applications it invited did not get good response. Top government officials attributed it to weak market conditions. “Now, we plan to sell these industrial plots through open-ended scheme,” according to state principal secretary (industries) Rakesh Sharma.

Sidcul has already got the election commission’s permission for the sale of remaining industrial plots, the advertisement for which was issued in December last year. The last date for receiving such applications was January 5 -- so as to allot these plots through the lottery system.

The growth centre, though, hit a roadblock due to steep hike of prices of industrial plots, inviting severe criticism from the Comptroller and Auditor General. That led Sidcul’s board to slash the land price of an industrial plot at Sigaddi. From what was initially fixed at Rs 3500 per square metre two years ago, it came donwn to Rs 1600 per sq m. The officials now believe that the new price will be an attraction for the industry to set up new units or go for sizeable expansion programmes.

The development of the growth centre had come under the scanner of the top auditor, which had stated in its report that “priorities were given to making more money by way of allotment at the growth centre”. It was in December 2003 that the government introduced a scheme to set up the growth centre in its bid to encourage industrialisation in backward areas. A total of 102.62 acres of land was acquired, with Sidcul providing common facilities like logistics and warehousing. Roads and water facilities have been strengthened during the past two years.

Even so, records of Sidcul, which is the nodal agency for industrial development, showed that only 30-35 acres of land had been allotted to the industry and rest of the land was lying vacant. Out of the above allotments, Sidcul announced 29.42 acres of land to 31 units during 2005-07 at a fixed price of Rs 450 per sq metre.

Only 5 acres of land to a couple of units was allotted during the last three financial years. Since then, the industry stopped showing much interest in the Sigaddi centre due to weak market conditions, bad connectivity and other factors like high pricing of the industrial plots.