Navi Mumbai SEZ gets mired in legal tangle

A writ petition filed in the Mumbai HC seeks re-tendering

Even before it could take off, the much-talked about Navi Mumbai Special Economic Zone (SEZ) has landed itself in a legal tangle. A writ petition has been filed in the Mumbai High Court seeking a fresh tender for the project.

The petition, which comes up for hearing on Thursday, has been filed by Anik Development Corporation, Mumbai SEZ Co, Gammon India and Nayan Shah, the promoter of the consortium.

The petitioners have named the state government, City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) and Navi Mumbai SEZ Co led by Sea King Infrastructure as defendants.

Speaking to Business Standard, Shah said, "Under clause 7.4 of the bid document, the lead player of the consortium cannot be changed. But in this case, first Videocon was the lead player, then Sea King Infrastructure Ltd replaced it. Now the Ambanis want to pick up the majority stake."

Sea King seems to trading in the project, bringing in new players all the time. Besides, despite the project having been awarded to them nearly two years ago, not a brick has been laid," said Nayan Shah.

The project has been attracting a lot of interest from international players as there is a provision for many utilities to come in with services such as telecommunication, power generation, solid waste disposal and water resources management. Companies from Canada, Japan, the UK, South Korea and the US have expressed interest in providing such utilities.

Cidco had awarded the contract to Sea King Infrastructure in November 2003 at Rs 67 lakh per hectare for the development of SEZ at Navi Mumbai covering Dronagiri, Ulve and Kalamboli areas. The Mumbai SEZ -led consortium had finished second as it had quoted Rs 51 lakh per hectare. The promoters are expected to develop SEZ on 2,000 hectare of land.

According to industry sources, a fresh tender could fetch the state exchequer as much as Rs 3 crore per hectare at the current prices.