Chhattisgarh aims to develop a Gems and Jewellery Park (GJP) in the state as it has diamond mines.
Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh today laid the foundation stone of the GJP in the new capital area on at 28.32 hectare plot.
The estimated investment was Rs 170 crore, he said.
“Like Surat, Jaipur and Mumbai, Raipur will also emerge in the national map for gems and jewellery with a distinct identity,” Singh said. GJP would have cutting, polishing and designing units besides research and training institutes, and house diamond traders and exporters.
Hyderabad-based Ramky Infrastructure Ltd would develop the park on Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis, with work scheduled to start soon. Land for the project would be provided on lease of 90 years including the project completion period to Ramky to design, finance, construct, market, operate and maintain the GJP, with commissioning in 2015.
The state government hoped that by 2015, the state would have world-class mines in operations for diamond, gold and alexandrite, a rare gemstone. In 1999, the erstwhile Madhya Pradesh government granted the prospecting licence to B Vijaykumar Chhattisgarh Exploration (BVCE) for aerial geophysical survey for diamond over 4600sq.km. in Behradih block, Raipur district, for a period of three years.
