Proposed Surat Diamond Bourse Project Facing Delays
July 22, 15
(IDEX Online News) – The current fragile state of the diamond industry appears to have taken its toll on the proposed Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) project at the future Diamond Research and Mercantile (DREAM) City at Khajod, at least for the moment.
According to the Times of India (TOI), although more than 12,000 Surat ad Mumbai diamantaires had expressed interest in taking space in the complex, they have yet to actually give any money to prove their intent. No buyers appeared at a July 15 meeting, when the SDB committee was to take token deposits.
The TOI reports that this is the third time in the last five months that the project has faced such a problem.
“The diamond industry is not in a healthy state at this point of time,” SDB committee spokesperson Mathur Savani told the paper. “We can't hope to get the token amount for booking office space. The project is likely to be delayed further. We will have to wait for the market conditions to get better."
He explained that many of those who were interested in taking space at the SDB have been hard hit by defaulters over the past few months.
If the project ever gets off the ground, the SDB will be the world’s largest bourse, with a total of 10,000 offices spread out over 10 inter-connected buildings.