Tata Steel to ink Rs 5-billion pacts for Gopalpur SEZ over 2 months

Definitive pacts with four investors will be signed shortly and construction on their units will take off by January 2019

Tata Steel Special Economic Zone Ltd (TSSEZ) aims to execute definitive agreements with four investors within two months for its multi-product industrial park at Gopalpur in southern Odisha. The investments are valued at Rs 5 billion. These will flow from domestic companies in chemicals, food processing and apparel. 

The industrial park, sprawled over around 3,000 acres, is made up of two components -- a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) notified for 1,235 acres and the rest being Domestic Tariff Area (DTA). The investors will install their units within the DTA where TSSEZ is the anchor investor and is providing plug and play infrastructure. 

Arun Misra, chairman of TSSEZ, said, "We have obtained the environment clearance. The state Cabinet has approved the land registration and land transfer is expected soon. We have got approval from the company board to spend on developing external infrastructure at the industrial park. In a month or two, we should be able to announce two to three good investments." 

Development of the Gopalpur industrial park would occur in a staggered manner. In each phase, 1,000 acres is set to be developed.

"Development of the park will take place in the next five to six years. Parallelly, our focus also lies in roping in investors," said Ashish Mathur, managing director at TSSEZ.

Mathur exuded confidence that the definitive pacts with the four investors would be signed shortly and construction on their units would take off by January 2019. 

"By April 2020, we would have three to four units actually running from the park. The units will occupy 100 acres of land and their combined investments could reach around Rs 5 billion. Together, the investments will generate employment for not less than 1,000 people," he added.

Aside from the four domestic investors queued up, TSSEZ has received queries from 70 companies -- both domestic and foreign.  

However, the worrying factor for TSSEZ is the subdued investor interest for the SEZ. "Manufacturing SEZs are struggling everywhere to attract investments. The government has formed a committee to deliberate on ways to make SEZs more attractive," Mathur said.