MUMBAI MASALA: CONSUL GENERAL VISITS KUTCH, MUNDRA SEZ AND

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MUMBAI 000043

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ENRG SENV TSPL ECON IN
SUBJECT: MUMBAI MASALA: CONSUL GENERAL VISITS KUTCH, MUNDRA SEZ AND
GIR FOREST IN GUJARAT

REF: 2008 Mumbai 77

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Consul General Inaugurates Medical Camp
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1. (U) On a recent trip to Gujarat, the Consul General
inaugurated a medical camp near Bhuj, in the remote desert
region of Kutch. This is the 35th consecutive year that the
month-long camp has served the needs of local inhabitants, in
one of the most remote parts of the state. The camp is staffed
by 45 medical professionals from the U.S. and 180 doctors from
Mumbai; many of the American participants are immigrants,
originally from the Kutch area. Shantilal Meckoni, chairman of
the Bidada Sarvoday Trust which sponsors the camp, said that the
yearly gathering provides treatment to approximately 25,000
people in the Kutch region. In addition to routine medical
treatment, special cardiac and pediatric camps are offered.

Mundra SEZ
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2. (U) The Consul General also visited the site of the Mundra
Special Economic Zone (SEZ) being developed by the Adani Group.
The SEZ includes a large, modern port as well as the Adani Power
Plant, which will be India's largest thermal power plant and the
third largest in the world when it is completed in 2012.
According to Adani Power's V.N. Bhamidipati, the power plant
will generate 4.6GW of electricity. It will sell 2GW of power
to Gujarat and 1.5GW to Haryana, and the remaining 1.1 GW will
be used as captive power for the SEZ. He noted that the
project will be larger than the Tata Ultra Mega Power Project,
which is being built on adjacent land, but it has not received
as much press coverage as the Tata project (reftel),because it
is not a Government of India (GoI) initiative.


3. (U) Bala Subramaniam, Senior Advisor to the Adani Group,
pointed out that the project uses equipment- broilers, turbines
and generators- supplied by the Chinese companies, Harbin and
Dongfang. When asked about the GoI's concerns about the quality
of Chinese power equipment, he claimed that the quality of the
Chinese equipment was equal to Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited
(BHEL)`s equipment, India's largest manufacturer of power
equipment. The executive stated that the drawback with BHEL was
that it can only manufacture 10GW of equipment per year, and it
was backlogged with orders. In comparison, Chinese companies
had larger manufacturing capacities; as a result, the Adani
Group found it much easier to purchase equipment from China than
India. Bhamidipati noted that several hundred Chinese laborers
were working on the project site, and a separate residential
compound houses them in Mundra. He stated that the Chinese
laborers were needed because they had technical capabilities
that were in short supply in India.


4. (U) Subramaniam noted that the power plant is being built
with the environment in mind. The plant will utilize coal from
a captive mine in Indonesia, which is owned by the Adani Group.
Indonesian coal, he noted, has less sulphur and ash content than
Indian coal and is therefore less polluting. To further
minimize pollution, the ash, generated from the power plant,
will be sold to cement companies in Gujarat to use as a raw
material in cement production. To reduce carbon emissions, some
of the project's units will use supercritical technology, a
cleaner and more efficient way to burn coal than conventional
technologies. Bhamidipati noted that they are in the process of
applying for carbon credits for their carbon dioxide-saving
initiatives. He also mentioned that sea water will be used to
cool the project.


5. (U) After touring the power plant, the Consul General toured
Mundra Port. Subramaniam informed him that the project was
originally started as a joint venture between the Adani Group
and Cargill, the large privately-held agro-food company based in
Minnesota. However, Cargill pulled out in the late 1990s. He
claimed that the port's efficiency may be the best in India;
turnaround times for ships are almost on par with the port of
Hong Kong. The Adani representative stated that most of the
port's cargo is essential commodities like fertilizer and coal,
particularly for the nearby power plants; the port may have the
world's largest coal terminal to service both Tata and Adani
power plants. As a result, Subramaniam noted out that Mundra
Port's traffic probably will not be affected by the financial
crisis. Recently Mundra has had success attracting Indian

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automobile manufacturer Maruti which started exporting cars to
Eastern Europe from the port on January 9. He expected that
Nissan and Honda's Indian manufacturing units to start exporting
vehicles from the port soon. Subramaniam predicted that the
port will employ approximately 1,000 people when it is finished,
bringing new jobs to the area. (Comment: We consider his
contention that the port will not be affected by the downturn
unrealistic. End Comment.)

Asiatic lions habituated to people in Gir National Park
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6. (U) Bharat Phatak, Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and
Director of Gir National Park (GNP),informed Consul General and
Congenoff that approximately 350 Asiatic lions live in Gir
National Park. Noting that the lions live in close proximity to
villages and settlements along the park's perimeter, Phatak
explained that violent incidents between lions and humans are
rare, with a human death occurring once every 3-4 years. He
attributed this to a "culture of conservation" in the region, as
Gujaratis consider respecting and protecting animals a part of
their culture. Phatak also said that compensation paid to
villagers when their livestock are killed by lions also helps to
preserve the relatively peaceful coexistence of animals and
humans. He noted that recently the lions have been migrating
outside the park (some lions are semi-captive in the
tourist-designated areas) and traveling several kilometers, even
as far south as the land touching the Arabian Sea near Diu.
Phatak said that the 2007 poaching incidents, in which 8 Asiatic
lions were killed in an attempt to pass off their bones as
prized tiger bone, were a blow to his wildlife conservation
team. He said that the perpetrators were prosecuted within one
year and given 3-year sentences for their crimes.
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