Gujarat, AP in slugfest for Nano project
The battle for relocation of the Tata Nano plant is said to have narrowed down to Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.
Both YS Rajasekhara Reddy and Narendra Modi have offered or plan to offer 1,000 acres of land almost free of cost to Tata Motors — the Andhra government at Tada in Nellore district and the Gujarat government at Mundra in Kutch district.
Land acquisition — the factor responsible for driving Tatas out of West Bengal — will not haunt the company with ample government land available at both the places.
Gujarat had earlier offered the Tatas land in Savli near Vadodara, before the choice fell on Singur, but Mundra is considered a better location as it has a port from where Maruti Udyog plans to export its cars. Tatas have already been awarded the 4000MW ultra mega power project in Mundra.
Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa is also promising 1,000 acres to the Tatas, but is unable to show the land. Maharashtra is also in the race, but there is no land to offer in Pune where Tata Motors has a massive presence. Both Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat are also expected to give tax breaks for the Nano project.
Technically, Tamil Nadu is also in the race but the state has no land to offer in the proximity of their main port of Chennai where there is an auto cluster. Tada is barely 65 km from Chennai port and closer to the auto hub of Tamil Nadu.
The Modi government, which is not openly wooing the Tatas, is believed to have stepped up some back channel diplomacy which resulted in Tata Motors chief Ravi Kanth visiting Gandhinagar last week for parleys.
Modi is banking on Ratan Tata’s famous comment during the Vibrant Gujarat business summit in January 2007 when he said, “You are stupid if you are not in Gujarat.”
Source: TNN
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