UP drafting new integrated industrial township policy

Uttar Pradesh government is preparing a new 'Integrated Industrial Township Policy' to facilitate private sector participation in developing industrial townships in the state, an official said Wednesday.

Under the proposed policy, starting from assembly of land, private enterprise will be responsible for developing the township equipped with industrial technology and design, allotment and its maintenance.

The new policy is proposed to be an industry-friendly inclusive regulatory framework enabling establishment of townships catering to all kinds of industrial units and sector-specific industries as well.

Surya Pratap Singh, principal secretary, Infrastructure and Industrial Development Department (IIDD), said the proposed policy will provide option to willing industrialists and entrepreneurs to set up their units in industrial areas other than those of Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation (UPSIDC) and industrial development authorities thus "creating a healthy competitive environment for high-class infrastructure development".

"In view of rising demand of industrial plots and need for accelerated industrial development around the alignments of Delhi-Mumbai and Amritsar-Delhi-Kolkata Industrial Corridors, private sector participation is imperative. Priority sectors of the state government will be especially encouraged and appropriate tax and duty concessions will be included in the new policy," he told IANS.

Directing the Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Authority (UPSIDA) to prepare and present the draft of new policy within two weeks after taking feedback of stakeholders, officials said the government should have minimum regulatory function along with provision for making the development of township non-transferable.

Private enterprise will have to arrange the land.

Manoj Singh, chief executive officer of UPSIDA, said that under the proposed policy, willing developer would submit the detailed project report (DPR) after arranging the land.

UPSIDA would then notify the township as industrial area and would prepare master-plan for the same, which would have to be followed by private enterprise in development of such township.