Uttar Pradesh will explore the possibility of developing an industrial corridor along the Eastern Corridor (EC), to be developed by the public sector Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCI).
“We will consider the suggestion given by the DFCCI for the development of an industrial corridor in right earnest,” UP Industrial Development Commissioner VK Sharma told Business Standard.
DFCCI has proposed to develop the Eastern and Western corridors at a cost of about Rs 37,000 crore with funding from Japan and World Bank.
While the Western Corridor has a Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) proposed along the route, there has been no such proposal for the Eastern Corridor, although a major part of the 1,256-km corridor traverses through UP.
Speaking at a recent function in Lucknow, DFCCI Managing Director VK Kaul had suggested the UP government seized of the opportunity to develop an industrial corridor along the EC for faster economic development and attracting private investors.
“One of the reasons for the Nano project going to Gujarat was not only the ready availability of land, but also the proposed WC, which would later help in exports to the Tatas,” Kaul said addressing the annual convention 2008 of Lucknow Management Association (LMA).
A band of 150 km has been chosen on both sides of the WC to be developed as DMIC, which would also include development of requisite feeder rail/road connectivity to hinterland/markets and select ports along the western coast.
Meanwhile, the state government has also tentatively chosen two locations in western UP for the development of logistics hubs to feed the EC. The state is likely to receive an investment of about Rs 15,000 crore for the corridor.
“The work on the corridors may start this year and it would be completed by 2014-16,” Kaul informed.
DFCCI has been set up under the Ministry of Railways for the construction of new railway line from Delhi to Mumbai (WC) and Ludhiana to Sonnagar (EC) meant for uninterrupted and fast transportation of freight.
