Marg to launch 2 SEZs near Chennai

Chennai: Real estate and infrastructure company Marg Ltd on Thursday announced the launch of its new project ‘Marg Swaranabhoomi’ comprising two notified SEZs spread over 612 acres off East Coast Road in Cheyyur taluk, about 90 km from Chennai, for multi-services and light engineering sectors.

While the initial investments are estimated at $400 million, the total size of the project is expected to touch $1 billion over the next five years.

Marg Swaranabhoomi, spread over 1,000 acres, comprises a multi-services SEZ, spread over 301 acres, to focus on attracting companies in the fields of knowledge process outsourcing, animation and simulation services, market research, specialty healthcare companies while light engineering SEZ, spread over 311 acres, will attract companies in aviation, auto component and ancillaries sectors.

The SEZs will be developed as integrated townships with residential zones and other civil and social infrastructure.

The project envisages development of 30 million sft of real estate space comprising IT parks, residential zones, malls and commercial space among others, in three phases over a period of five years. The first will see development of light engineering SEZ as about eight companies have shown interest to come to the SEZ.

The company also indicated intention to provide affordable housing at Marg Swaranabhoomi. The high prices of the housing units in the recently launched residential projects have made housing unaffordable in Chennai.

The prices of these units range between Rs 8,000 sft on the higher side and Rs 3,000 per sft in the lowest range.

However, Swaranabhoomi will offer housing units at sub-Rs 2,000 per sft range and the housing units comprise single, two and three-bedrooms units catering to people working in manufacturing and IT/ITeS companies, according to BG Menon, executive director (infrastructure), Marg.

Marg claims to have obtained clearances from various authorities such as the Board of Approval of the Government of India and the Ministry of Environment and Forests for its project. It has obtained approvals to build 15,000 houses, hotels with 200 rooms and a 200-bed hospital inside this city.

Basic infrastructure for the SEZ projects like road connectivity, power supply, sewage treatment facility and water supply is expected to be in place by 2009.

The company expects to fund this project through a mix of debt, equity and lease rentals. “We have planned a self-sustaining business model to complete this project,” Suresh Ramakrishnan, assistant vice-president (Finance), Marg, said.

GRK Reddy, chairman and managing director, Marg, said the project could create job opportunities for over 100,000 people, a majority from the backward communities, which accounts for about 50 per cent of the total population of 80,000 people in villages close to the SEZs.

In close association with the CII, the company intends to provide pre-employment and industrial training to about 5,000 rural youth in the Cheyyur taluk area surrounding Swaranabhoomi by 2008. It claims to have already provided training to about 400 people.