The Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG), set up by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to undertake preparatory work for setting up a Amritsar-Delhi-Kolkata Corridor (ADKIC), has recommended connecting the project with 20 cities in seven States with a budgetary support of Rs. 5700 crore.
The IMG, which submitted its report to PMO, has recommended that ADKIC should be aligned with the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) and it would pass through 20 cities in the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, a PMO release said here Wednesday.
The ADKIC also proposes to leverage the existing Highway system on this route and the Inland Water System being developed along National Waterway-1. In the first Phase of the project, every State could promote at least one cluster of about 10 square Km area to be called Integrated Manufacturing Cluster (IMC), in which 40 per cent area would be earmarked permanently for manufacturing and processing activities.
The IMG has said ADKIC could use both the Public Private Partnership (PPP) approach and non-PPP approach. The non-PPP trunk infrastructure will be developed through the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) or implementation agency vested with the task of setting up the IMCs, through grant-in-aid.
The IMG has also recommended constitution of an Apex Monitoring Authority, under the Chairmanship of the Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, for overall guidance, planning and approvals. It said ADIC should be set up as a corporate entity, on the lines of Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC). A dedicated cell under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary/Industrial Development Commissioner was also recommended at the state level.
At the cluster level, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) may be set up by the State Governments for administration of clusters, the report said. In the first phase, an estimated maximum financial commitment of about Rs. 5,749 crore over 15 years may be given for constructing seven IMCs each of 1000 hectare. These finances could be through budgetary support by the Central government, the report said.
