Mumbai After facing a backlash over losing major investment projects to Gujarat, the Shinde-Fadnavis government has given a push to a ₹20,000-crore project set to come up at Raigad district in Konkan. The government on Tuesday allotted 300 hectares of land to Sinar Mas, one of the largest conglomerates in Indonesia, for setting up a paper production unit in two phases in the coastal region.
The project was first approved by the cabinet sub-committee on industries on October 20. It is expected to generate 5,000 direct and indirect jobs in the first phase and an equal number in the second phase.
“After giving approval to the project in the cabinet sub-committee, we have sent an offer letter for the first phase of investment to Sinar Mas,” state industries minister Uday Samant said on Tuesday. “The company will invest ₹10,500 crore in this phase. We have also given a land allotment letter to the firm for 300 hectares.”
Samant said the state would sign more memorandums of understanding (MoUs) up to ₹30,000 crore to ₹40,000 crore in the next two months. “The efforts begun by the Shinde-Fadnavis government to reduce unemployment in the state will become successful,” he added.
Sinar Mas is the largest paper production company in the Asia-Pacific region, and the tie-up with it assumes significance against the backdrop of the controversy and criticism the state government had to face after the ambitious ₹1.54-lakh-crore Vedanta-Foxconn project went to the neighbouring state. Soon after, other major projects such as the ₹5,000-crore bulk drug park, the ₹424-crore medical devices park and the ₹22,000-crore Tata Airbus project were shifted to Gujarat. Several Opposition leaders kicked up a row, linking the developments to the upcoming Gujarat assembly elections. To end the controversy, the state industries minister on November 1 declared that it would release a white paper on why the projects went to other states.
Samant on Tuesday also revealed that Vedanta chairman Anil Agrawal had said in Gujarat that he would soon bring a project to Maharashtra that was on par with the Vedanta-Foxconn project.
