With investors staying away from investing in the economic zones of Yamuna Expressway, between Greater Noida and Agra, Chief Minister Mayawati is set to restructure her government’s offer to lure investors.

In the last one year, over half-a-dozen companies that had committed to invest in the Special Development Zones (SDZs), withdrew their proposals. This includes companies like Punj Lloyd, Eldeco Housing and Industries Limited, Orchid Infrastructure, Zoom Developer, Agarwal Associates, Downtown Planners and KLG Chemicals. The investors blame the economic slowdown for staying away from investing in the project.

As a result, the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Authority (erstwhile Taj Expressway Authority) has withdrawn its last year’s offer, in which it had invited industries to set up Special Development Zones (SDZs) — Mini and Micro SDZs — along the Expressway.

Last February, the Authority had invited investors for setting up the SDZs in the development area of the Expressway. In July, offers were floated for mini SDZs. The latest was an invitation in January to set up micro SDZs.

The micro SDZ would comprise 50 to 200 acre and mini 100 to 500 hectare. These SDZs would include investment in sports, recreation, information technology, bio-technology, education and other related fields.

“The old scheme was withdrawn so that no confusion is created, as the Authority has decided to re-launch the scheme with fresh terms and conditions, making it more liberal and viable for the investor,” said Lalit Srivastava, Chairman and CEO of Yamuna Expressway Authority. He admitted that due to the market slump many industries had withdrawn their proposals.

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