CKIC to generate 4.7m jobs, increase manufacturing in the corridor to $222bn, says ADB study

C Shivakumar @ Chennai:

The proposed Chennai-Kanyakumari Industrial Corridor project will generate more than 4.7 million additional jobs driven by annual manufacturing output of $222 billion, according to a Comprehensive Development Plan prepared by Asian Development Bank.

The phase of Chennai-Kanyakumari Industrial Corridor (CKIC) project, which will have Madurai-Virudhnagar-Dindigul-Theni and Thoothkudi-Tirunelveli nodes, would require an investment of nearly Rs 91,000 crore. It is likely to be taken by this year and completed by 2020.

The entire project has investment requirement of $43.19 billion (Rs 281,000 crore).

The corridor influence area, which will cover 23 of 32 districts of Tamil Nadu accounting for 64pc of Tamil Nadu’s area and 70pc of total population.

The focus of the corridor will on manufacturing. As per the study, between 2010–11 and 2014–15, registered manufacturing’s contribution dropped from nearly 20pc to less than 9pc during the same period.

Except mining and quarrying, and electric, gas, and water supply, all other sectors witnessed a decline in growth. Unregistered manufacturing also witnessed a slowdown with the growth below the national average.

The challenge for development of CKIC nodes is whether to continue with large cities as the magnets for growth or to fast track the growth of smaller urban areas. New cities are difficult to develop and can take more than a decade to achieve critical mass.

Equally, managing accelerated growth of existing congested cities is not an easy task either. The targeted industrial development requires relatively lower cost land, but also relatively higher class urban amenities. Achieving this balance will require a combination of both planned growth of existing large cities for sustaining the current momentum, along with prioritized development of alternate urban centers in response to accelerated growth, the study states.

Accordingly, the urban strategy for CKIC will be combination of anchor cities and growth centers. Anchor cities are the crucial initial-state requirement to attract targeted industries. Thoothkudi, Tirunelveli, Madurai, Trichy, Cuddalore, Thanjavur, Pudukottai, Manaparai Premabalur and Kariakudi have been earmarked as anchor cities.

Interestingly, the report states that Tamil Nadu ranks first among Indian states in terms of number of factories and industrial workers. It maintains a diversified manufacturing sector and leads in several industries, including automobiles and auto components, engineering, pharmaceuticals, garments, textile products, leather products, chemicals, and plastics. Chennai has become an auto production hub. Tiruppur and Coimbatore are the state’s major textile centers. Its proximity to East Asian countries has also made Chennai into an international finance hub.

Factfile:

1.  The proposed Chennai-Kanyakumari Industrial Corridor project will generate more than 4.7 million additional jobs.

2.   Manufacturing sector output in CKIC is estimated to increase from about $41 billion to between

$163 billion and $222 billion by 2035.

3.  The 23 districts in the corridor influence area cover 58% of all registered manufacturing enterprises in state.

4.  The entire project has investment requirement of $43.19 billion (Rs 281,000 crore).

5.  For Phase I nodes, the projected investment requirement for high-impact projects (hard infrastructure interventions) is $14.13 billion (Rs91,818 crore).

6.  Of the high-impact projects, 15 early bird projects at an advanced readiness stage with an investment requirement of $1.59 billion (Rs10,291 crore) have been shortlisted for Phase I nodes.