The $100bn Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor project – billed as the largest infrastructure and construction project in the world – will move a step closer to realisation next month when land allocations are made to companies who want to set up factories in the zone.
A source at the DMICDC, the development corporation that is managing corridor projects, told India’s Economic Times newspaper that a number of transnational companies were considering buying plots of land.
The source said these included Ikea, China Railway Construction Corporation, German turbine manufacturer Senvion, the Korean Land & Housing Corporation, Kia Motors and Chinese real estate giant Country Garden.
The companies have reportedly been seeking assurances about the legal basis of land acquisition: Indian federal and state regulations on transactions are notoriously complex for foreign companies and individuals.
The land will located in four industrial cities. These are the Dholera Special Investment Region in Gujarat, the Shendra Bidkin Industrial Park in Maharashtra, the Integrated Industrial Township Uttar Pradesh and Vikram Udyogpuri in Madhya Pradesh.
Companies that become anchor tenants for these investments can expect to obtain them at concessionary rates, and may also be given tax incentives.
The corridor is being billed as the largest infrastructure and construction project in the world, with a total investment value put at $100bn. If the plans for the scheme come to fruition, eight smart cities will be built in six states along a high-speed transport corridor between India’s capital and its largest city.
The cities are to be connected by the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor, a high-speed broad gauge line that will run parallel to the existing line. This is being organised into five projects, some of which are already under way.
Image: Artist’s render of a "smart-city" development planned for the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMICDC)
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