JAIPUR: Responding to calls from the industry, RIICO has decided to make provisions for the direct allotment of land in select industrial areas for faster development of industrial projects. The current practice of land auctions, which increases prices, has been widely criticised and is often cited as the major roadblock behind Rajasthan‘s slow progress in industrial development in the past.
As per the proposed draft, RIICO will make direct allotments of industrial plots or land at reserved prices in identified industrial areas (except saturated zones). Entrepreneurs who signed MoUs with the state govt in the run-up to the Rising Rajasthan investment will be allotted land in the identified industrial areas at the prevailing reserve price.
The draft also outlines a process for the allotment that considers capital investment, employment, production timeline, and experience in running the industry. If RIICO’s evaluation committee finds the project report suitable, allotment can be made within three weeks, says the draft.
It includes a separate lottery-based provision for the direct allotment of land to MSME entrepreneurs in identified subdivisions and rural areas. However, the MSMEs that signed MoUs with the govt during the Rising Rajasthan roadshows will be eligible for the allotment, again at the reserve price of the respective industrial area.
RIICO chairman and ACS industries Ajitabh Sharma said, “Unlike in the previous land allotment regime, we have done away with the minimum investment requirement criteria so that the small industries in the state also get land through direct allotment to set up their projects.”
According to the draft, applications for industrial plots will be accepted online, and plots will be allotted through a lottery among the applicants fulfilling the technical qualifications. It also provides that RIICO will review the project report, and those fulfilling the technical qualifications will be allotted land based on merits.
However, it has set stringent conditions for complying with the proposed production timeline. Production must start within three years, and intermediate sequences will also be ensured after allotment and before production, says the proposal. An additional period of two years will be provided with penalties.
The biggest beneficiaries of the scheme will be those entrepreneurs who were unable to start their projects until now due to a lack of land. Both schemes have an option to pay 25% of the price of the plots allotted at the time of the allotment and the remaining 75% in instalments over three years.
