Wednesday, August 23 2006 11:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Government yesterday (Aug 22, 2006) cleared 46 new Special Economic Zones including two multi-product SEZs spread over 2000 hectares by Essar in Jamnagar and AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation in Vishakapatnam.

While the SEZ promoted by Essar would have an area of 2,470 hectares, the APIIC's project would be spread over 2,309 hectares, according to a release issued here.

Apart from a multiple product SEZ, AIIPC's 111 hectare SEZ for electronic hardware has also been approved by Commerce Minister Kamal Nath.

Today's approval takes the number of aprovals to 150, as 104 SEZs had been cleared earlier.

Of these 46 SEZ, as many as nine are from Maharashtra, seven from Andhra Pradesh, five from Karnataka and four each from West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

Three proposals of SEZs from Gujarat and Haryana have also been cleared while two SEZs have been given the go ahead, in Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab and Uttaranchal.

One SEZ each has been cleared in Rajasthan, Goa and Pondicherry.

In Uttaranchal, the state development corporation would set up a 440 hectare SEZ. The biggest SEZ in Maharashtra would be developed by Viraj Profiles, which will be on 235 hectares of land.