Nine major proposals for investment worth thousands of crores stalled by the Centre

@vivekbhavsar

Mumbai: The ideological differences and ego clashes between the State and the Centre after the 2019 assembly polls has resulted in nine major projects of investments worth thousands of crores of rupees in Maharashtra have apparently been stalled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led Central Government.

The Shiv Sena leaders have accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led BJP government at the Centre of stalling these projects that were meant to be set up in Maharashtra only because the MVA government was in power in the state.

It may be recalled that the Centre and the State on one hand and the Sena and the BJP on the other hand have fought a bitter war of words over the alleged flight of big-ticket infrastructure projects like Vedanta-Foxconn, International Financial Centre and others to neighbouring Gujarat.

The Sena and the BJP have been at loggerheads with each over the controversial Mumbai Metro3 car shed and Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train projects.

The stalling of these major projects has badly affected the domestic and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Maharashtra. The documents in possession of TheNews21 have revealed that nine major investment proposals have been stalled by the Centre.

The Centre has either kept the proposals wrapped up in red tape or approved the setting up of these projects in other states. The proposals include Bulk Drug Park, Medical Device Park and the multi-billion Oil Refinery project. 

Post-Vedanta – Foxconn project controversy, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis led Shinde – BJP government have been trying to create a picture that they will bring investment in the state, much more than Vedanta – Foxconn. 

Foxconn’s investment was around $22 billion. It was shifted to Gujarat at the eleventh hour. It was claimed that up to July 24, it was assumed that the Joint Venture of Vedanta-Foxconn will set up their semiconductor unit in Talegaon near Pune.

Meanwhile, CM Shinde has air-dashed to New Delhi on Wednesday evening and he will meet concerned union ministers to convince them to approve pending proposals of investment in Maharashtra.

The erstwhile Uddhav Thackeray government had approved Bulk Drug Park (BDP) in Raigad district. The cabinet had decided on setting up BDP on 2500 acres of land. The proposal was sent to the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers Department of Pharmaceutical in June 2021. The investment was about INR 3,000 crores and Maharashtra had requested financial assistance of Rs 1,000 crores from Government of India (GoI). 

On the contrary, GoI, on September 1, earlier this month had given in principle approval to set up BDP in Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

The MIDC had proposed to set up a Medical Devices Park in Bidkin Industrial Area in Aurangabad district. The same proposal was submitted to the Department of Pharmaceutical, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers on October 14, 2020. The Union government had given its in-principle approval to the same proposals of Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, whereas Maharashtra ‘s proposal was waitlisted by the ministry officials since September 24, 2021.

After the Ministry of Textile launched the PM Mega integrated Textiles Region and Apparel (PM – MITRA) Park Scheme, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) had submitted two proposals on March 17, 2022 – Greenfield Project for Bidkin and Brownfield Project for Amravati.

The MIDC had submitted its presentation to the Ministry of Textiles May 4, 2022. The Ministry sent queries on June 6, 2022 and the CEO of MIDC had submitted a response on June 17, 2022.

The proposal for setting up of Manufacturing Zone for Power and Renewable Energy Equipment (Pilot project) to the Ministry of Power and Ministry of Renewable Energy on June 28, 2022. The project is proposed on 227 acres of land at additional Butibori in Nagpur and the proposed outlay was INR 400 crores.

The government has submitted a proposal to set up an Electronics Manufacturing Cluster at Ranjangaon in Pune district under EMC 2.0 scheme. The proposal was submitted to the Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology in February 2022 and a revised proposal was submitted on March 4, 2022. 

The meeting of the Project Review Committee (PRC) was held on July 19, 2022 in which verbal approval was given by the committee but final approval from MeitY is still pending.

The overall project clearance is required from the union Government to Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPCL) project. The fresh proposal was submitted in January 2022. It’s a joint venture of three state -owned oil marketing companies including Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL).

The present Shinde-Fadnavis government on September 13, 2022 has submitted a proposal to set up Mega Leather Footwear and Accessories Cluster at Ratwad, Taluka Mangaon in Raigad district. A 151 acres of land is proposed at Mangaon for the project. 

Maharashtra is seeking permission from GoI for investment from Chinese investors. The Chinese investment worth INR 3,770 crores in Great Wall Motors at Talegaon, investment of INR 250 crores by Hengli in textile sector in Talegaon, investment of INR 300 crores by Hailiang Copper in copper tubes and investment of INR 20 crores by Hengchun in electronic sector are pending for approval by the GoI.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on December 20, 2021 for Multi Modal Logistics Parks (MMLP) under Bharatmala Scheme between National Highway Authority of India’s (NHAI), SPV NHLML and Rail Vikas Nigam Board to set up five Logistics Parks at Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad and at Dighi Port Industrial Area in the second phase. 

It is expected that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will try to get a nod from the Union Government to these proposals and get back Bulk Drug Park in Maharashtra which is almost shifting to Himachal Pradesh. 

Now, with the change of guard having taken place in the state, it is expected that these proposals will now get the Centres approval.