Dassault-Reliance Aerospace Park a reality now ; Foundation stone to be laid on Friday

In a move to promote the Make-in-India initiative of the Government in order to bring in more foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country, the Dhirubhai Ambani Aerospace Park at Multimodal International Hub Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) has become a reality now as French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation and Anil Ambani-led Reliance Aerospace Ltd will lay the foundation stone of the aerospace park on Friday, a top official of Reliance Aerospace said.

According to sources, Dassault Aviation and Reliance Defence have teamed up in a 49:51 stake joint venture. “The park is being set up as part of Dassault’s offset obligations for the Rs 58,000 crore deal to supply 36 Rafale fighter jets to India. The deal was signed in September last year,” sources said, adding that the park will also be home to the largest defence sector FDI in the country.

“It is expected that production at the facility will be started in the first quarter of 2018 and phase one of this defence project will be fully operational by the third quarter of 2018,” it said.

The bhoomipujan of the aerospace park at MIHAN is expected to be performed by Union Minister for Road Transport and Shipping Nitin Gadkari, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani on October 27. The Commerce Ministry has already given the approval for the project that has the capacity to change the economic scenario of Vidarbha.

However, it is also learnt that the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) is the nodal agency for developing the aerospace park. “The Phase-I of the project is expected to generate more than 700 highly-skilled direct jobs and 3,000 indirect jobs. The aerospace park will eventually generate more than 10,000 jobs, promoting the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Skill India’ initiatives of the Government. Reliance has decided to start construction on 104 acres of land,” sources said.

The Dhirubhai Ambani Aerospace Park (DAAP) is being set up in the city's Mihaan Special Economic Zone. Spread over 289 acres, DAAP is touted to be the largest greenfield aerospace project in India.

The joint venture will be the leading entity to execute the Rafale offset programme. “The aerospace park will have assembly lines and manufacturing facilities for fixed wing aircraft and will produce aircraft components for global markets,” said an official of Reliance Aerospace Ltd.

“The Dassault-Reliance partnership will bring in not only high level transfer of technology but also help develop the eco-system of the domestic aerospace sector and feed into the global supply chain,” said the official, adding that a large number of Indian MSMEs are also expected to set up facilities at DAAP.