 "Japanese investors help build roads, Chennai metro, industrial parks")
According to Tamil Nadu government data, of the investment into major projects in the state, about Rs 16,500 crore is being accounted for by Japanese companies. Japan has also shown willingness to support a landmark project - the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor. Jica, a Japanese governmental agency, has pledged support to the state for such infrastructure projects.
Recently, the agency's president, Akihiko Tanaka, acknowledged the rapid implementation of many infrastructure projects in the state, according to an official release from the state government.
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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had sought Jica's support for the Tamil Nadu Investment Promotion Programme, aimed at addressing the concerns of investors and resolving infrastructural inadequacies.
Through the next three years, the programme would seek to draw an investment of about Rs 770 crore in small and medium infrastructure projects. The state has also sought Jica's support for projects to be implemented under the Tamil Nadu Vision 2023 document, which envisages investment of about Rs 15 lakh crore to create infrastructure across the state in the next 11 years.
Jayalalithaa said Jica had been assisting the state for the last 30 years, adding many large infrastructure projects in the state had been implemented with Japanese assistance. After Tanaka's meeting with the chief minister, the state government announced the Tamil Nadu Transmission System Improvement Project would be implemented this year, with a loan of Rs 3,410 crore from Jica.
Japanese agencies contributed Rs 8,646 crore in the Chennai Metro Rail Project, Rs 345 crore in the in Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Project, Rs 700 crore in the Tamil Nadu Bio Diversity Conservation and Greening Project and Tamil Nadu Afforestation Project-II and Rs 1,929 crore in the Hogenakkal Water Supply and Fluorosis Mitigation project, the Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Project, the Tamil Nadu Biodiversity Conservation and the greening project.
An attractive destination
Tamil Nadu is the single largest base for Japanese companies in India, accounting for about 400 such companies. Traditionally, Japanese investors have had manufacturing bases in the US and Europe.
However, they plan to address consumption in the Indian subcontinent through production in this very region.
And, as India is a huge consumption market, JBIC is interested in offering support.
Shinya Fujii, director general, Japan External Trade Organisation, under the Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry, government of Japan, says major bottlenecks for Japanese companies here include connectivity to ports (Chennai and Ennore), congestion on roads, power cuts and the lack of a dedicated industrial corridor and industrial parks.
The Ennore-Manali Road Improvement Project is crucial to Japanese investors. After investing huge sums here, the investors were worried about lack of connectivity between facilities in the Manali industrial area and the Ennore port, which is used by many Japanese firms, including Nissan, Toyota and Toshiba.
Various investors had voiced concern over the delay in the project's commissioning to the government of that country which, in turn, contacted the Indian Prime Minister's Office.
Since November 2011, T K A Nair, advisor to the prime minister, has often visited Chennai to review crucial infrastructure projects here, including the Ennore-Manali Road Improvement Project, a road overbridge at Attipattu (Ennore), the North Chennai Thermal Power Station (NCTPS) Road and the Tiruvottiyur-Ponneri-Panchetti Road.
The NCTPS Road is a two-lane road that links the Ennore and L&T Kattupalli ports with the Manali industrial corridor, where a large number of Japanese firms are based.
In May, a joint statement by the prime ministers of India and Japan had said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had directed the authorities concerned to hasten the development of infrastructure such as ports, roads, bridges and industrial parks, as well as electricity and water supply, in Ennore, Chennai and their adjoining areas.
He had also said the progress of the Tamil Nadu Investment Promotion Programme should be monitored. Government officials said this indicated the Centre's recognition of the importance of Japanese companies in the state. The joint statement also said the two prime ministers had directed their authorities to implement the master plan for the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor by the end of 2013-14.
Japanese companies have also shown interest in setting up industrial townships. For one such township near Mahabalipuram, an investment of Rs 15,000 crore is expected.
A government official said since the Japanese considered the Ennore port a gateway, another industrial township could be set up there; logistics parks could be set up at Ennore and Sriperumbudur.
The Tamil Nadu government has also sought investment from Japan in the proposed petroleum chemicals and petrochemical investment region in the Cuddalore-Nagapattinam belt.
JOINING HANDS FOR DEVELOPMENT
- Tamil Nadu: Single-largest base for Japanese companies in India, accounting for almost 400 companies
- Big investments: Japanese agencies contributed Rs 8,646 crore in the Chennai Metro Rail Project, Rs 345 crore in the in TN Urban Infrastructure Project, Rs 700 crore in the TN Bio Diversity Conservation and Greening Project, Tamil Nadu Afforestation Project-II and Rs 1,929 crore in the Hogenakkal Water Supply and Fluorosis Mitigation project