The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $484 million loan to improve transport connectivity and facilitate industrial development in the Chennai-Kanniyakumari Industrial Corridor.
The ADB signed a loan agreement with the Union government on Wednesday to bolster Tamil Nadu’s industrial connectivity by upgrading 590 km of the State highways in the industrial corridor’s influence areas covering 23 of the 32 districts between Chennai and Kanniyakumari. Seven-year contracts are envisaged for the long-term maintenance of these projects.
The industrial corridor is part of the East Coast Economic Corridor from West Bengal to Tamil Nadu, being developed with the ADB as the lead partner as the region connects India to the production networks of South, Southeast and East Asia.
“Climate change adaptation measures will be incorporated into highway upgrades, including improved drainage, raised road embankments in critical sections, and resizing of bridges and culverts,” said a statement on the project.
The ADB’s country director in India, Takeo Konishi, said the project was part of the priority infrastructure projects identified for corridor development under the comprehensive development plan for the industrial corridor. “The overall objective is to spur industrial transformation through provisioning of essential transport, energy and urban infrastructure for holistic development of industrial growth centres,” he said, after signing the agreement with Rajat Kumar Mishra, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs.
“The project is key to providing seamless road connectivity across industrial clusters, transport gateways and consumption centres, and help reduce logistics and production costs for the Chennai-Kanniyakumari Industrial Corridor’s targeted industries to boost their competitiveness,” Mr. Mishra said.
“Enhanced connectivity of industrial hubs with hinterland and ports will particularly help increase the participation of Indian manufacturing in global production networks and global value chains, thus creating jobs along the corridor,” the statement said.
