Tata Steel Special Economic Zone Ltd has sought more time from the Government for setting up a multi—product SEZ in Odisha.

The company’s proposal will be taken up at a meeting of the Board of Approval (BoA), headed by Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia, on January 6 here, an official said.

Formal approval to the developer was granted on June 18, 2007, over an area of 1,173 hectare.

The developer has already been granted seven extensions, validity period of which was up to December 17 this year.

It has “requested for further extension so as to implement the project. The request of the developer is accordingly placed before BoA for its consideration,” the official added.

Besides, the board will consider other proposals including G P Realtors and Mittal Infratech which have sought more time to implement their projects.

G P Realtors Pvt Ltd has proposed to set up sector specific SEZ for electronic hardware and IT/ITES in Haryana.

Mittal Infratech too wants to set up IT/ITES zone in that State.

SEZs are export hubs of the country. Exports from special economic zones logged a marginal growth of 0.77 per cent to Rs 4.67 lakh crore in 2015—16.

The exports from such 204 zones were Rs 4.63 lakh crore in 2014—15.

According to the Commerce Ministry’s data, as on March 31, these zones have attracted investments worth Rs 3.76 lakh crore and have generated employment for 15.91 lakh people.