Interim final plan for Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor project ready

Chennai:

The Chennai-Bangalore Industrial corridor project on Monday got a boost as the interim review final plan of the project got over in Chennai and it could be released any time from now.

T K A Nair, advisor to the prime minister reviewed the work on Chennai-Bangalore Expressway besides holding discussion on the Japan International Cooperation Agency to fund three industrial hubs in each state, sources who attended the meeting told Express.

Sources told Express that Ponneri could be one of the likely nodes. Interestingly, the state has zeroed in on two nodes -- Ponneri and Hosur but has ye to commit on any one of them.

The other two nodes are planned at Vasant Narasapur at Tumkur in Karnataka and Krishnapatnam near Nellore, in Andhra Pradesh.

The meeting was attended by top officials, including state industries secretary, officials from National Highway Authority and various other stakeholders.

Talking to Express, a senior representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency Ichiguchi Tomohide said that the meeting would give a final shape to the prospective plan and it would soon be released. However, he refused to give any time but sources said it could be released by June this year.

Tomohide said the plan has been already delayed by a couple of months. “The plan was to be released by March,” he said.

He said the draft is nearly ready with comments from states, and relevant ministries. The meeting was held to get further comments from the stakeholders before updating the plan,” he said.

Interestingly, the preparation of master plan began on October last year. Tomohide said each southern state would get funds for only one ‘Node’.

The plan is to have a master plan for each business hub. The business hub would focus primarily on manufacturing besides garnering investment from Japanese companies.

The business hub would have around 100 to 200 square kilometer of land and land availability would be a criteria for choosing the hub.

State government officials refused to comment but confirmed a meeting was held to review the Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor project.

Interestingly, Tamil Nadu has till now received Rs 18,000 crore funds from JICA. Currently, Andhra Pradesh is largest recipient of Japanese aid. It has till now got aid worth Rs 24,000 crore approximately.