Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Gets Underway With Land Acquisition

COLOMBO

In a significant step towards the implementation of the Government of India’s ambitious Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project, land has been acquired for four of the eight smart cities to come up along the 1500 km long corridor, and development of the land acquired has already started, said Alkesh K. Sharma, CEO the DMIC Development Corporation.

Speaking to Express on the sidelines of the Asian Development Forum here on Friday, the Kerala-cadre IAS officer said that the developed land will be available for use by September. And by 2018, the entire infrastructure will be in place.

The DMIC will be one of the world’s largest integrated industrial corridors in the world,generating enormous amounts of industrial output, trade, and employment, thanks to the application of multiple information and communication technologies, Sharma said.

The US$ 100 million DMIC will have two international airports, cities with MRTS and multi-nodal logistic hubs across the states of UP, MP, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

With the involvement of reputed consultants from the UK, US, Sweden, Singapore and Hong Kong, the Master Plan for the DMIC is of international standard, Sharma said.

Every utility in the smart cities will be integrated with a central command through an ICT system. The system will enable the detection of faults with precision. All cables, water supply pipes and drains will be underground to make the cities green.

The project has an integrated water management plan and also a smart electric supply scheme, tapping into and integrating all sources of energy including wind and solar power to ensure a 24X7 service.

To make the corridor directly beneficial to locals, youth of the area will be given training in new trades and given employment in the industries and other establishments coming up in the corridor.

The smart cities have been given special power by an act of parliament and therefore the approved and Master Plan cannot be tampered with according to the whims of politicians, Sharma said.

The eight investment regions proposed to be developed in Phase I of DMIC are: Dadri-Noida-Ghaziabad Investment Region in UP; the Manesar-Bawal Investment Region in Haryana; the Khushkhera- Bhiwadi-Neemrana Investment Region and the Jodhpur Pali Marwar Industrial Area in Rajasthan; the Pithampur-Dhar-Mhow Investment Region in Madhya Pradesh; Ahmedabad-Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) in Gujarat; and the Shendra-Bidkin Industrial Park and Dighi Port Industrial Area in Maharashtra.

The Ahmedabad-Dholera SIR is the biggest of these with a total area of 920 sq kms, with a target residential population of two million and employment for 800,000 people by 2040.