Konkan Bachao Samiti irked with land acquisition for power projects in Konkan

Sulbha Brahme, senior social activist on Friday criticised the Union and state governments for ignoring the villagers' welfare by pushing the atomic and thermal power projects in Konkan. Addressing a press conferene here, Brahme maintained that the Konkan Bachao Samiti (KBS) is going to continue with its agitation against the state government's land acquisition.

According to the documents shared by the Samiti, the government has planned to set up power plants in Shahapur (dist. Raigad), Dhopave, Bhopan, Jaigad and Ranpar (all in dist. Ratnagiri), Munge and Dhakore (dist. Sindhudurga). "Soon after the code of conduct was revoked, government officials started the work of acquiring more land in these villages," she said.

"The combined power generation capacity of these projects is said to be around 18,100 Mega-Watts. Generating this much energy will need huge amounts of coal, uranium and other hazardous materials that would contaminate the land, air and water in these areas," Brahme said.

As per the figures released by the government in 2008, the state has the capacity to generate 17,500 MW of power, whereas the electricity generated is only 13,575 MW, she said.

The existing thermal power projects at Parali, Paras, Khaparkheda, Bhusaval and Chandrapur are yet to be utilised to their optimum capacity. Electricity leakage should be checked to meet the state's power needs better, Brahme said.

To read more, please, visit The Times of India

MIDC starts process for engineering, textile SEZs near Satara and Solapur

The state's nodal agency for infrastructure development, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has set on roll the process for development of sector-specific Special Economic Zones (SEZs) at Phaltan in the neighbouring Satara and Chincholi in Solapur for engineering and textile units, respectively.

The move forms part of MIDC's plan to raise 22 of the 125 SEZs, which are in different stages of planning and development in the state. "Five of these 22 SEZs will be developed solely by MIDC," said P V Deshpande, MIDC's associate architect (SEZ), while speaking to TOI on Thursday. The remaining 17 have been planned in partnership with private developers.

Deshpande said, "Our (MIDC) primary mandate is developing and selling industrial plots and hence we have restricted our total involvement in sector-specific SEZs to only five projects."

These are: Phaltan in Satara (engineering), Chincholi in Solapur (textiles), Shendra in Aurangabad (aluminium), Hinjewadi Phase III in Pune (infotech) and Lote Parshuram near Chiplun in Ratnagiri (pharmaceuticals).

Another 17 projects have been planned on a 26:74 partnership ratio involving private developers, he said. "MIDC's stake will be 26 per cent while the rest will be of private developers', who will also be the co-owner, responsible for all the SEZ operations," he added. "A bulk of these projects are situated in the vicinity of bigger cities like Pune, Mumbai and Aurangabad."

For instance, the multi-product SEZs at Chakan in Pune, at Sinnar in Nashik and at Nandgaon in Amravati are coming up in partnership with Bharat Forge, India Bulls and El Deco, respectively, Deshpande said.

To read more, please, visit The Times of India

Anil Ambani to pursue upcoming international airports at Pune and Navi Mumbai

Anil Ambani group to make major foray into cement, airports:

Reliance Infrastructure has firmed up plans for a major foray into cement production and expansion of airports across the country, apart from bidding actively for major highways projects, company chairman Anil Ambani said Tuesday.

Addressing the company's annual general meeting here, Ambani said a pact was signed last week with the Maharashtra Government for a five-million-tonne cement unit in Yavatmal district at investment of Rs.2,250 crore ($450 million).

Making some big-ticket announcements in his speech, Ambani said the group has emerged as the highest bidder for the privatisation of all five regional airports in Maharashtra at Nanded, Latur, Yavatmal, Baramati and Osmanabad.

"The government has set a target of modernizing 35 non-metro airports in the country. We are watching the developments in this sector closely, and keenly pursue the upcoming projects for international airports at Navi Mumbai, Pune and Goa.
To read more, please, visit - Samay Live

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MIDC on land buying spree amid slowdown

At a time when demand for industrial land is declining due to the financial slowdown, the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) is looking for acquiring huge tracts of land for its various projects.

MIDC has gone low key now that the economy is cooling although it is busy wooing European manufacturers from steel to paper industry to set up their shops here.

Land acquisition, however, is still going on, with the MIDC currently negotiating for 1,400 hectares at Chakan near Pune. This includes land for MIDC-Bharat Forge SEZ. Meanwhile, the payment process is on for the 600 acres of land it acquired at Jalna.

“We are also focusing on agro-processing and we will set up more food parks in the state,” he said. The state has already got approval for a setting up a mega food park at Shirwal by Chordia Food Products under the Central government's scheme, where each state gets one such food park along with a cash grant of Rs 50 crore. Despite the slowdown, the state is seeking approval from the Union commerce ministry for special economic zones (SEZs).

“We have recently received an approval for setting up an agro-processing SEZ at the Latur additional industrial estate. This is a large project and our co-developer for the 149-hectare project is Ramky Infrastructure. We are seeking the commerce ministry's approval for the co-developer,” the official said.

Other SEZs in the state are the 1,010-hectare multi-product SEZ at Amravati, 140-hectare textile SEZ in Nagpur, 104-hectare textile SEZ at Kolhapur with co-developer Soma Enterprises of Hyderabad and a 140 hectare SEZ in Nanded for pharmaceuticals.
To read more, please, visit - Gouri Agtey Athale - The Economic Times

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1,010-hectare multi-product SEZ at Amravati 140-hectare textile SEZ in Nagpur 104-hectare textile SEZ at Kolhapur 140 hectare SEZ in Nanded for pharmaceuticals