NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar on Thursday said there were some problems regarding revenue exemptions for the proposed Coastal Employment Zones (CEZs), and refused to give any timeline for their roll-out. The NITI Aayog had come up with a proposal to set up at least one CEZ each on the west and east coasts. Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh were to have a CEZ each initially. Asked about the status of the project, Kumar said the proposal was forwarded to the Union finance ministry, and "it's in process". "There are some issues of revenue implication... So we are following it up.
There are two such zones we proposed, one on the east coast and one on the west," the Niti Aayog vice chairman told reporters here after a visit to the Andhra Pradesh government's Real-Time Governance Centre. "There are some problems with the revenue exemptions, revenue losses that these zones involve. So I will take it up with the Ministry of Finance when I go back," he added. Asked if there was any timeline for the CEZs to come up, Kumar said, "I don't think so. Not as yet, not at the moment, to the best of my knowledge." When asked would CEZs be feasible given the problems, he said, "How can I say that? I have to give you the fact that it is under the consideration of Ministry of Finance and Department of Revenue and it's up to them to decide." Arvind Panagariya, Kumar's predecessor, had said in November 2016, after discussing the concept with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, that the Centre should come up with an incentive package for CEZs. "The idea is to create an ecosystem to bring large-scale manufacturers that provide jobs to semi- or low-skilled workers," he had said.