VZCZCXRO5657
PP RUEHAST RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHNEH RUEHPW
DE RUEHBI #0043/01 0270829
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 270829Z JAN 09
FM AMCONSUL MUMBAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6916
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 8158
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 2089
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0129
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0014
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 0023

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 
 
MUMBAI 00000043  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Consul General Inaugurates Medical Camp 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶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 
------------- 
 
¶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 
 
MUMBAI 00000043  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
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 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶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. 
FOLMSBEE