Commerce Ministry to seek Cabinet nod to set up NICDA

NEW DELHI, June 4: The Commerce and Industry Ministry will soon seek Cabinet approval for setting up of National Industrial Corridor Development Authority (NICDA) to facilitate development of industrial corridors. The government is building a pentagon of corridors across India to boost manufacturing and project India as a global hub. NICDA would carry out project development activities, appraise and sanction projects, implement and coordinate all central efforts for industrial corridor development. "The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) is moving a proposal to the Cabinet for formation of NICDA shortly," a senior ministry official said. The government has conceptualised five economic corridors - Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), Bengaluru-Mumbai Economic Corridor (BMEC), Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC), Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC) and Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC). All these are at different stages of implementation. While work on 5 smart cities in DMIC has been taken up, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) study team has undertaken the preliminary study for comprehensive integrated master plan for Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor. Various trunk infrastructure projects like development of roads, drainage, sewage, potable water, water treatment and sewage treatment plant are being developed under DMIC. The draft plan for Bengaluru-Mumbai Economic Corridor has been prepared and discussions are on with the state governments concerned to execute the project. DMIC covers six states - Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra. BMEC under its ambit has Karnataka and Maharashtra while CBIC includes Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.