After a long wait of two years, the MP government has decided to join hands with Gwalior Agriculture Company Ltd (GACL), a subsidiary of Gwalior Sugar Company Ltd (GSCL), a Dabra-based firm (Dabra is 42 km south of Gwalior), which has proposed a special project comprising a special economic zone. The company may also join hands with the Airports Authority of India.
The project will be completed with an investment of Rs 20,000 crore. The project will be completed in four phases.
The first phase will create an aviation facility, the second will have an air-cargo and logistics hub, the third will develop an industrial or agro-processing park, while the fourth phase will create a township, medical tourism, a biotech university and a leisure destination.
“The state government has joined hands with the company as an equity partner against a land area, which has been impounded under the Ceiling Act and a case is pending in this regard at the High Court,” said Kailash Vijayavergiya, government spokesperson and cabinet rank minister, adding, “the project will provide jobs to thousands of people”.
The Project Clearance and Implementation Board (PCIB) had given in-principle clearance to the project. This project also involves foreign direct investment of Rs 6,000 crore.
But a government source told Business Standard, “This way the company will be able to save its land, which it has lost under the Ceiling Act.”
The company has proposed to join hands with Singapore-based consultant Jurang International, a Singapore airport consortium.
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“The project will be a single real estate project offering employment to 60,000 people, while planning a township for 200,000 people.
Earlier a proposal submitted to the PCIB claimed to have 3,800 acres for the SEZ and the aviation and cargo hub, 770 acres of urban land for township development, and 4,000 acres for agriculture development.
“The company had asked for state government support for 10,000 acres to complete the project. The project will take at least five years to complete,” the minister said.
The company has sufficient water and power, with a 60 Mw Manikhera dam to start production soon and another 17 Mw power project has been proposed on a co-generation basis from bagasse and agro waste.
According to company documents, the aviation facility will have an aviation maintenance centre for India and South East Asia, a landing, parking and maintenance facility for super liners like AB-380s and Boeing 787s, parking bays for 90 aircraft, a training centre for pilots, cabin crew, simulating facility, flight catering.
The facility, according to the company, will be created by 2007-09 and cargo hub by 2009-10.