10th shipping
Bahrain to develop integrated
economic zone near Navi Mumbai
Energy, IT &
entertainment districts on drawing board
billions
for Business
Bahrain’s Islamic bank, Gulf
Finance House, has reportedly firmed up plans to invest $10 billion over seven
years to develop an integrated economic development zone near Navi Mumbai.
The ground-breaking ceremony for
the zone was performed by the Chief Minister, Mr Ashok Chavan, on March 7.
Sprawling over 1,700 acres, the
zone is located about 12 km from Navi Mumbai. It will have energy, entertainment
and IT districts.
The zone is expected to generate
employment for 2.5 lakh people. This may well be one of the largest foreign
direct investments in the country.
Land for the project has already
been acquired by the bank from the locals.
The bank plans to attract global
energy and entertainment companies which will set up their homes and offices
there.
In October 2006, the bank signed
a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra government for setting
up an integrated energy business zone covering 300 acres involving $2 billion
investment.
But in 2007, the bank signed a
wide-ranging agreement with the state government and the proposed investment was
increased to $10 billion.
The scope of the project was
expanded to include zones for telecommunications, software and entertainment.
Mr Esam Janahi, Chairman of Gulf
Finance House, said that the 480-acre entertainment district would be the first
of the three components of the zone to go ‘live’.
It was planned to become a
special attraction for entertainment and commercial uses, including a mix of
hospitality, leisure and recreational facilities, he elaborated.
Mr Janahi said that the other two
key components of the project were 760 acres of the energy district which would
be part of a series of energy-focused business clusters to be developed by the
bank across Asia and West Asia.
The 470-acre IT/telecom component
would feature a centralised IT office park that would act as a business core,
catering to the IT/telecom industries.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development
Authority (MMRDA) will be the special planning authority for the zone. MMRDA too
is considering acquiring some equity in this project.
Source : Exim News Service -
Mumbai, March 9
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