Reliance's Rewas port project on hold

Uncertainties about the fate of Reliance Industries'  Maha Mumbai special economic zone (SEZ) project, one of the largest SEZs being planned in the country, have led to another ambitious Reliance project being put on hold - the Rs.6,000 proposed port and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Rewas near Mumbai.

Reliance Logistics and Ports, part of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), was planning to promote an all-weather, deep-draught port in Rewas as part of its Maha Mumbai SEZ project. But opposition to the SEZ project has resulted in the Maharashtra government freezing the land acquisition process and even consider returning land already acquired from farmers.

According to Niraj Ambani, president, logistics, RIL, the company has also not decided on its plans to build a $1.2 billion LNG import terminal, either on the western or eastern coast of India. ''We are still to take a final decision on that projcet and no concrete plans are in place till now,'' he said.

RIL has a 55-per cent stake in Reliance Logistics and Ports, while Jai Corp, owned by RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani's close friend, Anand Jain, has a 10-per cent stake. The Maharashtra Maritime Board has an 11-per cent stake, and Amma Lines the remaining 24 per cent.

Following stiff opposition from villagers in about 85 villages in Panvel, Uran and Pen in Maharashtra's Raigad district, located just south of Mumbai, the state government decided to freeze all activity at the Maha Mumbai SEZ project.

The project was originally planned on over 10,000 hectares of land, but as in many SEZ projects, it ran into land acquisition problems.