Maha's DMIC hope

Maharashtra has pinned high hopes on the $90-billion Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, or DMIC. The 1,500-km route is expected to boost the state’s industrial output by an additional Rs 20 lakh crore over the next 30 years, believes the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation, or MIDC, the nodal agency for industry. The industrial corridor, which will be spread across a 300-km wide belt in the state, is also expected to create an additional 23 lakh industrial and manufacturing jobs once it is ready. The corridor will connect the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, or JNPT, with New Delhi.
The corridor, according to the plan, will divide the state into two economic influence zones — the Nashik-Sinnar-Igatpuri Investment Region (NSIIR) and one along the state’s coastal belt. The state government plans to set up five mega industrial estates along the DMIC. These will be at Shendra in Aurangabad district, Sinnar and Malegaon in Nashik district, Dighi in Ratnagiri district and Dhule in north Maharashtra. Among the proposals for the Shendra region is the setting up of an international convention and exhibition centre to be developed by MIDC that will be operational by 2014. With the site selection having been completed, bids are likely to called soon, according to a MIDC release. The project is proposed to be on a build-own-operate-transfer basis.
The state government has proposed a high-speed rail service, along with roads and highways, to connect industrial area around ports near Mumbai. Among the projects to be located in this area are a mega industrial port city at Tale in Raigad and a multi-modal logistics park at Karla near Pune.
MIDC, the nodal agency in the state to implement the DMIC project, is acquiring 70,000 hectares of land to accommodate the proposed projects. The state government has constituted a high-powered committee under the chairmanship of the chief secretary to facilitate inter-departmental coordination and fast-tracking of approvals.
Along the route will be the Posco steel project at Vile Bhagad in the Konkan region. The South Korean major has begun construction of a distribution centre in the port area to handle all final products from its Vile Bhagad plant.