Haryana approves Reliance Industries' quitting SEZ;
to give Rs. 343 crore for land
Chandigarh:
Reliance Industries' proposal to opt out of Gurgaon special economic zone (SEZ)
has been approved by the Haryana government, which hyas said it will reimburse Rs. 343 crore to the company.
The amount offered by the state government for taking back the land is lower
than Rs. 1,172 crore demanded by Reliance.
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda told reporters in Chandigarh on Friday
that RIL's proposal was approved by the state Cabinet at its meeting here.
Mukesh Ambani-led RIL had sought the reversal of 1,383.68 acres - from Reliance
Haryana SEZ Ltd (RHSL) to the Haryana State Industrial & Infrastructure
Development Corporation (HSIIDC) - saying that the project had become unviable.
An official release said the SEZ Project at Gurgaon had "been rendered
economically unviable due to the mid-term corrections in the SEZ Policy viz.
imposition of the Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT), withdrawal of the Tax holiday,
slowdown in the global economy, prohibitively high prices of land and other
problems associated with aggregation of land through private
negotiations".
Sensing the difficulties posed in this behalf, the Chief Minister had requested
Reliance to return the HSIIDC land, it said.
"As such, RHSL offered to return the HSIIDC land and abandon the SEZ
project in Gurgaon vide their letter of January 2012," the release said.
"RHSL had requested for refund of the amount paid by them to the HSIIDC
and re-imbursement of expenditure incurred on the site, apart from interest on
the said amount aggregating to Rs. 1,172 crore,"
it added.
The proposal was considered at the level of the Haryana Investment Promotion
Board, headed by the Chief Minister, after examining all the legal aspects of
the Joint Venture Agreement, it said, adding that HIPB recommended acceptance
of the return offer strictly in accordance with the provisions of the JV
agreement.
"Accordingly, the Haryana Cabinet today approved the return of the land to
HSIIDC, in lieu of payment of an amount of Rs. 343.51
crore to RHSL as against Rs. 399.85 crore paid by
RHSL at the time of transfer of land and the demand of Rs.
1,172 crore by RHSL," the order noted.
"The claims on account of Administrative charges forming price of the
subject, refund of the Stamp Duty, re-imbursement of development expenditure
and interest amount have not been accepted. The refund amount has been worked
out strictly as per the terms of the Joint Venture Agreement date 19th June
2006 signed between the HSIIDC and RVL."
HSIIDC and Reliance Ventures Ltd, wholly-owned subsidiary of RIL, had entered
into a JV Agreement on June 19, 2006 for setting up of the SEZ over an area of
25,000 acres in Gurgaon and Jhajjar districts.
HSIIDC had transferred about 1,383.68 acres at Village Garhi Harsaru to the
special purpose vehicle floated by HSIIDC and RVL for implementing the project
- Reliance Haryana SEZ Ltd, for about Rs. 399.85
crore.
The project configuration was subsequently changed to SEZ in Gurgaon district
over 12,500 acres and a Model Economic Township over 12,500 acres in Jhajjar
district. Reliance was able to purchase, and aggregate, about 7,100 acres in
Jhajjar, and another about 1200 acres in Gurgaon, but it was not contiguous.
RHSL also paid Annuity to the landowners whose land was acquired/procured in
Gurgaon & Jhajjar amounting to Rs. 50.71 crore up
to March 31, 2013. It included Rs. 17.61 crore on
HSIIDC land in Gurgaon and balance amount of about Rs.
33.10 crore in Jhajjar where they had procured land through direct
negotiations.
Soon after the Haryana government received the land return offer from RHSL, it
has been engaged in discussions with the Union Ministry of Commerce &
Industry for the best utilisation of the subject land, the release said.
"It has been agreed with the Ministry of Commerce & Industry to use
the subject land for establishment of a state of the art Global City Project as
a send investment node under the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC)
Project," it further said.
"The Global City is envisaged to be developed as a high value added
manufacturing infused area which, apart from adding to the economic
development, would also help in generating skilled employment in Haryana."
Mr Hooda said the land acquired for the Reliance project would not be returned
to the original owners of the land. The new project is envisaged to be an
integrated model township in Gurgaon, comprising of the exhibition and
convention centre, high value innovation and knowledge industries, central
business district and township facilities.
The Global City Project is proposed to be developed jointly by the HSIIDC and
the DMIC Trust/DMICDC through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with equity
participation by DMIC Trust and HSIIDC in equal proportions.
