60 per cent notified land still lying vacant under UPA's SEZ Scheme.

The UPA government's special economic zone (SEZ) scheme, aimed at creating infrastructure to facilitate exports, doesn't seem to have succeeded in doing so and may instead end up turning into a real estate play as had been feared, said analysts and critics of the way in which the plan has been implemented.

More than 60% of the total land notified as SEZs is vacant years after the scheme opened in 2006. So far, the government has notified 389 SEZs, envisaged as enclaves of export excellence.

Of the total 47,803 hectares of SEZ land notified, only 17,689, or 37%, has been put to use so far, according to ministry of commerce and industry data. Only 185 of the 389 notified units are functional, defined as at least one working export unit.

Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma had, in an internal meeting, expressed concern over the large gap between notified and operational SEZs and asked officials to bridge this.

'There are some developers who are simply sitting on land and not doing anything. We plan to weed them out and will send them show-cause notices,' said a commerce department official. The government will pursue those who aren't even applying for de-notification or extension of approval.

ET