Wanda’s promised $10 billion investment won’t come now

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 5

After Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar returned from his China visit in January last year, the BJP government in Haryana had gone to town claiming that it was the next big thing on the state’s investment map, with Wanda Industrial New City setting up shop with investment value of $10 billion.

Khattar might have counted his chickens before they hatched because a year and a half later, the project seemed to have come a cropper. The Chief Minister had admitted in a muted voice that the promised investment was not happening anymore.

Sources in the Industries Department claimed that China’s Wanda empire had run into rough weather in its home country and fallen on hard times, with the entire business getting liquidated, after which it stopped pursuing the Haryana project.

According to information available, the government last heard from the Wanda group about four months back, after which there had been no communication.

Earlier this year, the sources said the memorandum of understanding to develop a world-class comprehensive industrial park, to be known as Wanda Industrial New City, had hit a roadblock in Haryana as well.

While the group was not willing to offer more than 19 per cent stake to the Haryana Government in what was supposed to be a joint venture with the HSIIDC, the latter wanted 26 per cent ownership in the proposed project to have the right to veto, if and when a situation arose.

This was being termed as a deal-breaker with both parties unwilling to relent though talks were still on for the same when the Wanda group fell out with the government there. The issue of equity was still unresolved when the group lost interest, given its own ground situation.

Apart from the disputed offer of higher equity to the Haryana Government, the Wanda group, it was learnt, had also asked for many other relaxations.

The sources said the Wanda group’s investment plan included construction of five industrial and theme parks, in addition to shopping malls, in the Wanda Industrial New City, which was to be located in the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor within the National Capital Region.

While Phase I of the project comprised an industrial park in Sonepat for companies in software, automotive manufacturing, machinery and healthcare education, the construction of Wanda Cultural Tourism City and a residential district was also on the cards.

However, not having heard from the group for four months, the government had practically written off the investment that was slated to come into Haryana and had been focussing on the other memorandums of understanding it had signed during Khattar’s trips abroad.

A cruel blow  

• The Wanda empire in China has fallen on bad times and its entire business is getting liquidated. Hence, it stopped pursuing the Haryana project.
• The group was not willing to offer more than 19 per cent stake to the Haryana Government in what was supposed to be a joint venture with the HSIIDC. The government wanted 26 per cent ownership in the proposed project to have the right to veto.