Anil Ambani dumps Bhopal university project

Surrenders 110 acres of land allotted for private university, demands refund of Rs 9.8 cr

Anil Ambani-promoted Dhirubhai Ambani Memorial Trust (DAMT) has decided to dump its Acharpura (Bhopal) private university project.

The Madhya Pradesh government had allocated a land area of 110 acres to the trust in 2008. The trust, in a letter written to the state chief secretary, has urged to surrender the allocated land and has demanded refund of an amount of Rs 9.81 crore. A copy of the letter is available with Business Standard.

The state government had allotted the land to DAMT for setting up private university in accordance with the state support agreement it had signed with Reliance Power Limited under provision and guidelines of Madhya Pradesh Private University Act 2007.

Earlier last week, the matter was brought by state industry department officials before state chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan during a review meeting. “They (DAMT) have said they would not be able to go ahead with the project,” a highly-placed government source, who participated in the meeting, told Business Standard.

However an email sent to company’s Bhopal office on 18th of this month did not evoke any response.

The Trust has said in its communication to the government that it is unable to “develop the private University in village Acharpura, Bhopal.”  

By DAMT’s surrender of land, the letter said, the government would not be at loss of revenue but would be benefitted upon allotting it to another party now, along with the boundary wall constructed by it.

The Trust had paid an amount of Rs 5 crore as endowment fund, Rs 3.76 crore against land value and Rs 1.04 crore invested in boundary wall. Besides a lease premium of Rs 3.23 crore.

The Trust has reasoned that the prestigious Sasan project has not been able to get any “support from any procurer, including state of Madhya Pradesh.”  The letter said the “external factors and reasons” are beyond the control of Sasan power project and it is in “financially challenged” situation.  The Trust had to complete the private university upon completion of Sasan project.

The construction of the university was to be completed within three years of possession of delivery of the land. The DAMT was asked to furnish a status on the university in 2010, but it had sought an extension and had been given one till July 2012. It again obtained an extension to complete the University by July this year.

Had it been completed, the university would have been offering research and studies in Information Technology. Banking upon the project, state government had announced Acharpura village area as special education hub with a plan to invest Rs 71 crore for developing the total 140 acre area. “As many as 19 educational institutes were expected in the zone,” the government source said.