Reliance Industries (RIL) will now have to spend more to acquire land for its proposed 25,000-acre special economic zone (SEZ) at Jhajjar in Haryana. This is because the Haryana government has raised the rates of land in the region to Rs 20 lakh per acre from the earlier Rs 16 lakh. Initially, the company had estimated an expenditure of Rs 30,000 crore to acquire land for the SEZ.
RIL has so far acquired 9,000 acre for the project at Rs 16 lakh per acre and needs to acquire another 9,000 acre. The rest of the acquisition would be facilitated by the state government. Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation holds 10% stake in the SEZ as a joint venture with RIL.
After a gap of around two years since the financial slowdown hit the project, the company has started acquiring land in the region. The state government has also made it mandatory that the company must pay an annuity income of Rs 40,000 per acre to farmers selling land for the next 30 years. The same has also been intimated to RIL.
Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda told FE that this was being done to protect the interests of farmers selling their land, keeping the inflationary pressures in mind. An official from RIL confirmed that the company has started acquiring land and is also scouting for partners for the project, IL&FS being the front runner.
However, a company spokesperson declined to comment on the development. Meanwhile, the company is also looking at revising certain aspects of the project, in order to make it more viable in the changed global economic scenario. Over and above SEZ development, the revised project will also focus on real estate outside the SEZ. The company will also look at developing a logistics hub and a captive power facility. The project had taken a hit due to the global slowdown, but the company has been trying to revive it in the last few months.
The Haryana SEZ was conceived in 2005 with an ambitious target of generating 5 lakh jobs. The SEZ is expected to host a cargo airport, a 2,000-mw power plant will and have rail connectivity with Delhi.