According to sources Andhra Pradesh government is planning to refer Reliance Naval Engineering's proposed naval project near Visakhapatnam to its investment board in view of delay in its implementation and doubts raised by the company's auditors about the firm's financial position. Accordingly the shipbuilding facility, proposed with an initial investment of Rs 5,000 crore, is yet to take off though a MoU was signed by Reliance Naval and Engineering (formerly Reliance Defence), an Anil Ambani group company, with the state government in January, 2016.
Moreover also there were some issues related to land allotment for the project and a senior state government official said despite repeated requests, the company had so far not made any advance payment for the land it sought for setting up the world class naval facility at Rambilli along the East Coast, just 70 kms south of Visakapattanam.
Furthermore when announcing the project, Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani had then said the facility would also lead to creation of a multi-tier array of defence ancillaries with further investments of Rs 5,000-10,000 crore and thousands of skilled jobs, which would complement Reliance Group's existing facility at Pipavav in Gujarat and will have a clear focus on building strategic assets for the Indian Navy.