INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - JUNE 2006
THE MONTH THAT WAS...

RELIANCE JV PACT FOR HARYANA SEZ DEFERRED

   THE Reliance mega SEZ slated to come up in Haryana appears to have hit a speed breaker. The signing of the joint venture agreement for the Rs 30,000-crore multiproduct SEZ, which was supposed to have been inked between RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani and Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, has now been postponed by at least a week. The project is understood to have been delayed because of concerns raised by 10 Janpath about certain aspects of the project. According to sources, Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has been summoned to New Delhi by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to discuss the SEZ project. Sources said it was likely that Mrs Gandhi and her colleagues would take a relook at the last-minute changes made in the land use rules of the SEZ being developed by HSIIDC and Reliance.

While Reliance officials said the signing has been postponed by a week, they claimed that everything was hunky-dory. It is learnt that Mukesh Ambani has cancelled his trip to Chandigarh and it could not be confirmed if the visit would be rescheduled in the near future.

When contacted, state's public relations department spokesperson said the signing has been postponed till June 19 as Reliance had asked for more time.

This was the biggest SEZ covering almost 25,000 acres that Reliance was planning in the country, much on the lines of big SEZs in China and Dubai . The proposed SEZ to be located in Gurgaon's Jhajjar district plans to have its own airport, railway line and a captive 400 mw power plant. Besides the developer's Rs 30,000-crore investment, the additional third-party investment was envisaged at Rs 1 lakh crore. It has an export potential of over Rs 50,000 crore and can provide employment to around two lakh people.

Interestingly, just about two weeks ago, the opposition INLD had asked for cancellation of this Reliance SEZ on grounds of irregularities in acquisition of 1,715 acres of land from farmers. INLD leader and former state finance minister Sampat Singh had alleged that land worth Rs 8,500 crore was being given to this proposed SEZ while the farmers had been paid only Rs 350 crore.