Lavasa gets green signal but ride may be bumpy

ne November 10, 2011, 0:26 IST

After a year-long legal battle, the environment ministry on Wednesday granted a conditional clearance to the first phase of the multi-crore Lavasa Hill City project in Maharashtra.

The clearance comes as a reprieve to Ajit Gulabchand’s ambitious hill city project, making losses to the tune of Rs 2 crore a day due to the ministry’s stop-work order. After the clearance, Lavasa Corporation Ltd, a subsidiary of Hindustan Construction Co, can start construction work at the project site.

Giving the clearance, the ministry said it was subject to strict compliance of the terms and conditions. The ministry has set 47 conditions to be followed in the construction phase and eight in the operation phase.
   

THE MAKING OF A HILL RETREAT

THE PROJECT
Development of hill city near Pune, Maharashtra

PROJECT PROPONENT
Lavasa Corporation Ltd, a subsidiary of Hindustan Construction Company

DEVELOPMENT IN THE FIRST PHASE
2,000 HECTARE

TOWNSHIP BREAK-UP
              * Residential area: 618.24 ha
          * Commercial area: 33.7 ha
          * Hotels’ area: 72.77 ha
          * Institutional area: 207 ha
          * Open space: 908 ha
          * Other activities: 209 ha

 

WATER REQUIREMENT
12.26 million litres a day  POWER REQUIREMENT
240 Mw TOTAL PROJECT COST
Rs  2,824 crore WORK STALLED SINCE
NOVEMBER 2010

Other than that, Lavasa would have to adhere to general environmental safeguards and also have to submit six-monthly monitoring reports. The ministry decision came after the

Maharashtra pollution control board (MPCB) filed a case against the project promoters for alleged violations of the Environment Protection Act (EPA).

Filing of a case under the EPA was one of the key preconditions of the environment ministry for the grant of clearance to the first phase of the project.

Terming the order “a positive development”, a Lavasa spokesperson said, “It comes as a reprieve for all our stakeholders, including our investors, the villagers and Lavasa Corporation Ltd”. “We continue to maintain the MoEF’s notification, over which the entire controversy was based, is not applicable to Lavasa,” the spokesperson said.

“This is a happy moment for the stakeholders. I am particularly happy for the villagers and workers whose jobs will now be restored,” said Ajit Gulabchand, HCC chairman and managing director. Meanwhile, chief judicial magistrate N T Ghadge in Pune rejected an application by counsel P Narayan to intervene on behalf of Lavasa Corp in the criminal complaint filed by MPCB. Narayan said he wanted to produce four documents not produced by MPCB. The case will now come up on Friday.