Billionaire Gautam Adani is among those in discussions for infrastructure projects in Bhutan’s new ‘Gelephu Mindfulness City’ as the tiny Himalayan kingdom seeks investment to build a mega township along its southern border with India.
The Adani Group, controlled by Asia’s second-richest person, is one of the business houses in talks with the government “at the highest levels” to set up solar and hydroelectric plants in Bhutan’s 1,000-square-kilometer (386 square miles) flatlands where the new city is being built, Lotay Tshering, Gelephu’s newly-appointed governor, said in an interview.
While the mountainous country has a population of less than 800,000, its mission to revamp its infrastructure creates another opportunity for the ports-to-power conglomerate that has been investing billions in its green energy initiatives.
Bhutan has been a strategic and long-time ally for India.
The foray, if it materializes, fits with the broader strategy of Adani’s sprawling empire of expanding its international footprint. The Indian conglomerate is already developing infrastructure projects or vying for them in Israel, Kenya, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Vietnam.
