The government proposes to develop seven large industrial hubs on the entire stretch of the proposed 2,000-km Amritsar-Kolkata industrial corridor project. An inter-ministerial group (IMG), constituted to begin preparatory work on the ambitious project, has decided that each of these industrial hubs be located in the seven states through which the corridor will pass. Each of these clusters would be developed as islands of excellence, especially in manufacturing.

“The work on the project will gather steam now as the initial report examining the feasability of the project is almost ready. This will also give way for the finalisation of the finanacing structure for the project,” a government official told FE.

?Two meetings of the IMG have already been held; one at the ministerial level and the other with states who have also submitted their concept papers. The concept paper highlights the potential of junctions along the corridor for being developed into industrial/investment zones and trans-shipment hub,? the official added.

To begin with, all seven states will have one industrial hub each. The size of the hubs would be determined on the basis of availability of land, but sources said it would not be less than 1,000 acre. Though the hub will promote a variety of industrial activities, the focus will be on manufacturing.

The backbone of the corridor is the eastern freight corridor of the Indian Railways, which is expected to be ready by 2017, and is being planned on the lines of Delhi-Mumbai industrial Corridor (DMIC). ?To start with, we’ll have one industrial hub in the area of 1,000 acre in every state. It will be a bigger project than the DMIC, and will need an investment of around R3.25 lakh crore,? the official added.

The DMIC mandate envisages the setting up of 24 cities over 5,500 sq km, seven of which are to be set up in Phase 1 over 2,000 sq km by 2018 at a cost of R325,000 crore.

The Amritsar-Delhi-Kolkata Industrial Corridor will cover Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. This is one of the most densely populated regions in the world and houses about 40% of India’s population. Also, this region needs a major push for industrialisation and job creation. The industrial corridor is expected act as a catalyst for this growth. The corridor will cover Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Ambala, Saharanpur, Delhi, Roorkee, Moradabad, Bareilly, Aligarh, Kanpur, Lucknow, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Hazaribagh, Dhanbad, Asansol, Durgapur and Kolkata.

UP has proposed to develop two National Investment & Manufacturing Zones (NIMZs) and five Industrial Zones along the UP section of the industrial corridor. Proposed NIMZs include Auraiya National Investment & Manufacturing Zone (6,043 hectare) and Jhansi National Investment & Manufacturing Zone (5,567 hectare), while industrial zones have been proposed at Pashchimanchal Industrial Zone (2,000 hectares), Braj Industrial Zone(2,000 hectare), Kanpur Logistics hub (6,000 hectare), Allahabad-Naini-Bara Investment Zone (3,000 hectare) and Mughalsari-Varansai-Mirjapur Investment Zone (3,000 hectare). UP will be the biggest beneficiary of the corridor project with a share of nearly 57%.