Gujarat continues to SEZzle. The Essar Group would invest close to Rs 11,000 crore in developing its proposed special economic zone (SEZ) near Jamnagar.

After a go-ahead from the Centre, the group recently got an in-principle approval from the Gujarat government for developing its special economic zone as a multi-product zone.

"As per the SEZ rules, the anchor company will invest 75% of the total investment. This would mean that the total investment at the SEZ, including investment from Essar, would be close to Rs 15,000 crore," sources familiar with the development told ET.

Part of the Rs 11,000 crore investment by Essar will be used in setting up a petrochemical complex and a power plant, sources said. The SEZ, which would sprawl over 1,200 hectares, is coming up near Essar's 10.5 million tonne refinery at Vadinar near Jamangar.

However, Essar has communicated to the state government that the refinery will not be a part of this multi-product zone, as per SEZ rules.

At its board meeting on March 17, 20006, the group had cleared the proposal for developing the Jamnagar SEZ as a multi-product zone. "We have received an in-principle approval from the government of India for our proposed SEZ.

However, it is not Group's policy to comment on any specific business proposal," a company spokesman told ET. He however refused to give details about the status of the proposal with the state government. This is the second multi-product SEZ at Jamnagar after the multi-product SEZ proposed RIL.

"Once the written approval for the SEZ is received, Essar will start approaching companies in the engineering and related sectors for making investment in the SEZ," sources said.

This is the second SEZ proposed by Essar in Gujarat. It is already setting a Rs 575 crore steel SEZ spreading over 1,700 hectares, near its Hazira plant.