Mukesh Ambani to build industrial city outside Mumbai

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, January 31

Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, will soon build an industrial city spread over more than 5200 acres on the outskirts of Mumbai.

The Devendra Fadnavis Cabinet had on Tuesday cleared a proposal by the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) to develop an industrial city on the land.

Ambani and his associates Anand Jain of Jai Corp and Nikhil Gandhi of SKIL Infrastructure Ltd had intended to
build a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) on this property more than a decade ago.

However, the move to build the SEZ did not materialise, according to CIDCO officials.

According to sources in CIDCO, the corporation has a 26 per cent stake in the proposed Navi Mumbai SEZ.

CIDCO sources say 85 per cent of the land in the integrated industrial area will be used to set up industrial projects, including manufacturing units, IT parks, warehouses, etc.

The rest may be used for residential and commercial purposes.

The proposed integrated industrial city will be located close to the under-construction Navi Mumbai airport and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT).

Officials of Reliance Industries Ltd have clarified that the project is being undertaken by Ambani in his personal capacity and the company is not involved in it.

“SEZs in Maharashtra have proved to be non-viable after the Central Government introduced the Minimum Alternate Tax and removed concessions enjoyed by them,” an official from the Maharashtra Government’s finance department said.

Several industrial houses which had proposed to set up SEZs have already dropped their proposals.