The economic slowdown seems to have taken a toll on some big-ticket investment projects in Haryana with a majority of them hanging fire. Where on one hand DLF has recently withdrawn its two proposed SEZs in Gurgaon and Ambala, Unitech has also asked the Haryana State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) to put on hold its proposed SEZ in Sonepat. Work is moving at a snail?s pace at the Reliance Industries multi- services SEZ in Gurgaon and Jhajjar. Projects like Sabeer Bhatia?s Nano City to be developed at Raipur Rani in Panchkula district as well as the petrochemical hub in Panipat have gone into the sleep mode.
According to officials of HSIIDC the developers are in a wait and watch mode. ?DLF has withdrawn its proposed SEZs in the wake of the ongoing economic downturn and a fall in demand for such projects and Unitech has also put its project on hold,? he said. ?Reliance Industries has acquired over 7,000 acres of land for its multi services SEZ in Jhajjar and about 1,200 acres in Gurgaon. It has approached the HSIIDC to acquire around 800 acres of land in Gurgaon to make the entire piece of land contiguous.?
Yet no development work has taken place at the site of the much-hyped Reliance SEZs in Gurgaon as well as in Jhajjar. RIL proposed to set up the SEZs over an area of 25,000 acres in two parts of 12,500 acres each in Jhajjar and Gurgaon with an investment of Rs 25,000 crore. The SEZ plans are being executed by Reliance Haryana SEZ Ltd.
Unitech?s SEZ in Sonepat is to be spread across 10,000 acres and the projected investment is around Rs 12,000 crore. As per information available no land has been acquired by Unitech so far.
The Nano City project worth about Rs 50,000 crore at Raipur Rani has also left the farmers of the 23-odd villages that will fall under its purview high and dry. The developer doesn’t seem to have gone very far in its efforts to acquire the total 11,000 acre of land. While Naval Bhatia, director of Nanocity, claims that land acquisition will begin by August, the project is already moving behind schedule.
It is to be noted that in July 2008 Parsvnath Developers picked up 38% stake in Nano City Haryana Ltd, jointly promoted by Sabeer Bhatia and HSIIDC. Now named as Parsvnath Nano City, the task of acquiring land has been handed over to Parsvnath Developers. According to Bhatia title deeds of about 400 acres of land are being verified and the land will soon be under the possession of the project developers.
The petrochemical hub at Panipat may also be delayed as Indian Oil Corp(IOC), an equal partner with HSIIDC, has decided to quit the project. Now HSIIDC is planning to go ahead with the project on its own. by pumping in about Rs 3,700 crore.
?We have asked IOC to supply raw material for the petrochemical hub as it will be close to the refinery and their response is awaited,? a senior official from HSIIDC told FE.