Gadkari says 24 firms to invest Rs60,000crore in Jawaharlal Nehru Port SEZ
NitinGadkari on Saturday said 24 companies have offered to invest over Rs60,000crore in a SEZ adjoining Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT).
Union shipping and ports minister NitinGadkari on Saturday said 24 companies have offered to invest over Rs60,000 crore in a special economic zone adjoining the country’s largest container port Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT).
“Twenty-four companies have already offered to come (and) set up (ventures) in JNPT SEZ who will use it for exports,” Gadkari said, speaking at a seminar organised by Moneycontrol and Free Press Journal in Mumbai on Saturday. This will entail an investment of Rs60,000crore and create employment for 1.25-1.50 lakh people, he said.
Prime Minister NarendraModi had laid the foundation for the facility months after being sworn-in in May 2014 and the government was targeting to create 1.50 lakh jobs in the facility. Without disclosing the name of the company, Gadkari said one of the companies has said it “on an affidavit” that it alone will invest Rs6,000crore and create employment for 40,000 people.
The comments from the minister came in the backdrop of recent media reports that said Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn may be one of the interested companies, which will create the high number of jobs for mobile handset manufacturing at the facility. The government was also hopeful of getting Tesla, arguably one of the most respected companies in the world, to the SEZ, but Gadkari had recently said the battery and transport major is not interested.