Ambanipur? AmbaniNagar? Ambaniabaad?

Special Economic Zone on Arabian Sea

Mukesh Ambani plans a new off-shoot city on the lines of Shenzhen near Shanghai and Jebel Ali in Dubai. There will be a new city in the on the Arabian Sea, across Mumbai, the part of twin Special Economic Zones’ in Mumbai.
ET informs the city will be home to at least a million people, most of them working in hi-tech and service industries such as electronics, contract research, finance, and information technology. The populace will have the best of amenities and facilities on lines of any developed country’s major city. In short, a modern township on the sea is on cards. The project will span a massive 32K acres and currently christened Mumbai Integrated SEZ.
Government has cleared a 140 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and MahaMumbai is one among them. MahaMumbai SEZ is proposed to be joined to Mumbai by a six lane, 22 km long sea bridge. The MahaMumbai SEZ will invite applications from companies (mostly foreign) to set up their offices. The selection will be based on whether they are non-polluting and are mostly be export-oriented. The project has not got off the ground but has already received eight hundred applications.

Is the separate area actually necessary?

The approval of Rs.1 Trillion, the largest ever approval of growth plans, has shown that India Inc has come to terms with globalisation. SEZs are required but if they are made comprising in the existing area and improvement the infrastructure is done, it will be doing double good. But the idea of the separate island on Arabian Sea, though will look awesome and all that, will be like a separate place very different from India. Though there will be many foreign companies investing and all that, but will be like running away from the infrastructure problems being faced in not only tier 2 cities but in tier 1 cities like Bangalore as well. I don’t know how correct I will be to say, to invest in infrastructure in the existing area, rather then reclaiming non-existent land and develop it. The infrastructure development in the existing Economic zones will attract more companies to invest and improve Indian economy. This separate city though will be like a jewel in the industrial revolution crown etc., but shunning the shameful infrastructure and thinking of something non-existing land mass, I feel, is just whim of a billionaire. I am sure there are economists and strategists among us bloggers who can enlighten me further detail if this will have more plusses than what I can see as a layman.

More on SEZs and Ambani’s ambition– ET, TOI, Sify