From Barren Land To A Bountiful Landscape –How Ambani Family Transformed Jamnagar

New Delhi: Jamnagar city, which hosted the high-profile pre-wedding celebrations of Mukesh Ambani's youngest son Anant Ambani with industrialist Viren Merchant's daughter, Radhika Merchant, has become the talk of the town, gaining immense global attention.

Jamnagar is Anant's grandmother's Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani birthplace, and the town where his grandfather Dhirubhai Ambani and father Mukesh Ambani started their business.

Reliance, which operates the world's largest single location oil refining complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat with capacity of 68.2 million tonnes a year, looks to become a net zero-carbon company by 2035.

Transforming Jamnagar From Barren Land To A Bountiful Landscape

But Jamnagar Township as we know today, was not the same flourishing hub decades back. It was Ambani family’s vision and incessant hardwork that made a barren land into a bountiful landscape. Jamnagar is today known as the Green Belt of Gujarat.

Nita Ambani, spearheaded the designing and construction of the township in the late 1990s --the aim of which was to give home to about 5,500 families of Reliance employees.

Nita Ambani, who had topped the list of Fortune India's Most Powerful Women 2022, shared her arduous journey in transforming Jamnagar with Fortune. She said that she along with her team had to work out of tin sheds.

In the scorching 42 Celsius temperatures, with no trees in sight, the Ambani family took up the mision to plant saplings across the arid region that received less than 400 cm of rain, she told Fortune. Jamnagar now has a thriving flora and fauna echosystem, with rainfall also being doubled ever since.

Jamnagar Houses Largest Mango Orchard In Asia

Jamnagar boasts of having the largest Mango Orchard in Asia -- Dhirubhai Ambani Lakhibag Amrayee . Spread over 600 acres, there are more than 100 varities of mangoes. The Ambani family started with 50,000 mango trees, which now has nearly 1.5 lakh trees. While upto 70 percent of the produce from the orchard is domestically consumed, the surplus is exported.

Furthering with Dhirubhai Ambani’s dream of planting 2 million trees and transform into a greenery hub, the Reliance family has planted crores of saplings in the area. As per the company's annual reports, RIL has planted over 2.3 crore Saplings till year 2020-21, involving mangroves on 875 acres of land around its Jamnagar refinery plant.

Vantara: Anant Ambani's Brain-Child

The massive project, dubbed 'Vantara,' or 'Star Of The Forest,' covers 3,000 acres in Reliance's Jamnagar Refinery Complex. Inspired by mom Nita Ambani, Anant Ambani has conceptualised the project.  Reliance Industries and the Reliance Foundation are supporting Vantara -- the project intends to provide a safe haven for mistreated, injured, and endangered animals.  The initiative is more than just a zoo; it's a full-fledged rehabilitation facility meant to replicate the lush ecosystems from which the saved animals originally came.

Jamnagar Upcoming Projects

Reliance Industries Ltd in an earnings statement and investor call recently said that it will commission a new energy giga complex in Gujarat in the second half of 2024. Reliance is building a giga complex spread over 5,000 acres in Jamnagar in Gujarat. The complex comprises five giga factories for photovoltaic panels, fuel cell system, green hydrogen, energy storage and power electronics.