Cabinet Gives Green Signal for Rs12, 000 Cr Infra Projects

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The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved projects worth more than ?12,000 crore as the government prioritized infrastructure spending to create jobs and lay the foundation for a strong economic recovery. The projects cleared included the industrial corridor nodes in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka along the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor and multi-modal logistics and transport hubs at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh. The central government will, on its own, spend Rs 7,725 crore to equip the proposed greenfield industrial cities with road and rail connectivity to ports and logistic hubs along with reliable power and social infrastructure. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that she will prioritize investments in infrastructure to revive the economy that is set to see its worst-ever contraction. The government has set a Rs 100 trillion investment target for projects selected under the national infrastructure pipeline over the next five years. While Rs 2,139.4 crore will be invested in the Krishnapatnam industrial area in Andhra Pradesh, projects in Tumakuru industrial area in Karnataka will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 1,701.8 crore. The multi-modal logistics and transport hubs at Greater Noida will cost Rs 3,883.8 crore. The industrial corridor programme thrives to attain the objective of creation of an Atmanirbhar (self-reliant) Bharat to drive the growth of industries and create greater avenues for investments across the country,the cabinet secretariat stated. These projects are expected to generate 280,000 jobs. For the Krishnapatnam node, the estimated employment projection on completion of the first phase of development is likely to be around 98,000 people, of which about 58,000 are likely to be employed at the site. For the Tumakuru node, the government expects employment of about 88,500 workers, out of which 17,700 will be from the service industries in the initial development phase. The logistics hub project at Greater Noida will provide storage and transitioning of goods to and from the eastern and western dedicated freight corridors (DFCs) and offer a one-stop destination to freight companies and their customers. The transport hub project near the Boraki railway station (in Uttar Pradesh), on the other hand, will have space for an inter-state bus terminal (ISBT), a local bus terminal (LBT), metro, commercial, retail and hotel space, and green open spaces for world-class passenger movement facilities for the growing population of the catchment zone catering to upcoming developments in the Uttar Pradesh sub-region of the National Capital Region, thus, decongesting Delhi. About 100,000 jobs are estimated to be generated by 2040 from both these projects, which will have a positive impact on growth opportunities in the surrounding areas. CCEA also approved the expansion of the Paradip port in Odisha at an initial cost of Rs 3,005 crore to enable it to handle large cargo ships under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode. This includes the development of a new western dock and fresh dredging by the selected concessionaire at a cost of Rs 2,040 crore and Rs 352.1 crore, respectively; and investment by Paradip Port of Rs 612.5 crore to provide common supporting project infrastructure.