Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the ambitious Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC) was not merely being developed as a ‘smart industrial city’, but would be a pulsating centre of the country’s industrial activity in the near future. He was speaking on the occasion of the inaugural ceremony of the AURIC project’s central administrative and commercial building, touted as the country’s first greenfield ‘smart industrial city.
“The signature building of the AURIC is now ready to serve a ‘new’ Aurangabad city. But Aurangabad is set to be the new benchmark of industrial progress as AURIC will not only be ‘a smart city’, but also a thriving centre of India’s industrial activity besides being an integral part of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC). Several big companies have already started work here while many more are to come. These companies will generate lakhs of jobs for the youth in the coming years,” said Mr. Modi.
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The Prime Minister said that in a digital era ecosystem where the requirement of businesses and industries which framed their value proposition on smart technologies rapidly evolved, it made sense to provide such businesses with a comprehensive ecosystem that in itself was smart in nature.
Besides inaugurating the proposed seven-storey AURIC central administrative building, the Prime Minister, with a click of a button, also inaugurated the AURIC Command & Control Centre (ACC), the ‘nerve’ of the AURIC project. An user-friendly Chat Bot with Investor Management System and an e-Land Management System AURIC, which is a vital part of DMIC, is strategically located in the Shendra-Bidkin area in Aurangabad district and will be spread over a sprawling 10,000 acres.
Envisioned as one of the country’s best-planned smart industrial cities in the near future, the project aims at transforming Aurangabad into a major manufacturing hub with the potential to create three lakh jobs in the next 15 years. The first phase of the project is expected to be complete by 2019, and the second by 2022.
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Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that Saturday’s inauguration marked a historic day for Marathwada.
Gift from Centre
“This [AURIC] is a gift from the Centre to Marathwada and especially the districts of Aurangabad and Jalna. It is also strategically located, being only a few kilometres away from the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust’s (JNPT) dry port. AURIC will be the State’s industrial magnet in the coming times,” said Mr. Fadnavis.
Foreign investment
Around 50 foreign conglomerates and firms from Japan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and South Korea besides indigenous companies have already begun investment in the project.
AURIC was created as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) between the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC) and the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC).
State Minister for Industries and Mining Subhash Desai said the project was expected to attract investment worth ₹ 60,000-70,000 crore from global players and had tremendous employment potential.
“AURIC has already attracted a record investment of ₹ 3,600 crore last year from investors, while infrastructure packages of ₹7,947 crore have been approved by the Centre to help AURIC offer high-value, sustainable infrastructure that will support long-term economic vitality and a knowledge-based ecosystem,” Mr. Desai said.