Anil Ambani to meet Bengal CM on Aug 18

Anil Ambani, chairman of Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, will meet West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee here on August 18 to discuss a host of investment proposals, including a Light Rapid Transport System.

"Yes," was the chief minister's reply when asked whether he would meet Anil Ambani next week.Bhattacharjee, however, declined to divulge the agenda for the talks, but secretariat sources said the two were likely to discuss investment proposals on the Light Rapid Transpost System (LRT), besides a health hub and a centre of excellence named after Anil's late father Dhirubhai Ambani.

The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, however, was not among the 11 companies which responded to the expression of interest (EoI) invited for the LRT by the state government in 2004.

Of the 11, four companies - Siemens, Amex Corporation, BHEL-Itouchu and Srei-Metrail - were shortlisted. Later, SREI and Siemens jointly bid for the project, with the former proposing to provide funds and the latter, the techology.

Ambani has already signed an MOU with the state higher education department for setting up West Bengal's first private infotech university. Land for the project is being identified at Kalyani in Nadia district.