Bavasi Group offers Rs.70,000 Crore SEZ at MIHAN-Nagpur

Fast growing Indian infrastructure company Bavasi Group is interested in making a huge investment to the tune of Rs 70,000 crore in Multimodal International Hub Airport at Nagpur (Mihan) project, almost 70% of India’s defence budget for 2008. A proposal to this effect is under consideration of chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who also heads the Maharashtra Airport Development Company—the nodal agency for the ambitious Mihan SEZ. As a part of this plan, Russian plane manufacturer Sukhoi is keen on setting up a civilian plane manufacturing unit with an investment of Rs 13,200 crore. City MP and union minister for new and renewable energy Vilas Muttemwar said the Bavasi Group was in talks for developing a Rs 40,000 crore SEZ in a 3,000 hectare plot of land on Butibori-Umred road, including the Sukhoi venture, with Rs 30,000 crore ancillary investments expected around this SEZ.It has proposed the world’s first renewable energy park called Integrated Silicon Complex. This would be bigger than the fast upcoming Mihan-SEZ with a 2000MW capacity monocrystalline photo voltaic module along with a 240 MW thin film, an exclusive float glass plant and a 2000 MW thermal power plant, Muttemwar said.Bavasi Group has a partnership with Al Bukhari of Malaysia which has to its credit world-class airport in that country, several star hotels besides interests in oil exploration. The Bavasi Group is tying up with Sukhoi which wants to diversify into smaller fuelefficient superjet, 90 to 130-seater airplanes. Sukhoi has already sought 300 hectare land in Mihan-SEZ and MADC is studying the proposal for the last couple of months.