Southern states get two major infra projects in Budget

They are the $22.6 bn Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor and Rs 7,500 crore project at Tuticorin

Two major infrastructure projects for the Southern States of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were announced in the Union Budget 2013-14. These includes $22.6 bllion Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor and Rs 7,500 crore project at Tuticorin.

In his Budget Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who hails from the state of Tamil Nadu, said that the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) are currently preparing a comprehensive plan for the Chennai Bengaluru Industrial Corridor.

The corridor will be developed in collaboration with the Governments of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The next corridor will be the Bengaluru Mumbai Industrial Corridor on which preparatory work has started.

According to reports the estimated cost of the Chennai Bengaluru Industrial Corridor was around $22.6 billion.

Meanwhile, the Finance Minister also announced that two new major ports will be established in the country, one in Sagar, West Bengal and another one in Andhra Pradesh to add 100 million tonnes of capacity.

According to industry experts these two new ports will attract an investment to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore. Earlier Union Shipping Ministry officials said that Nellore, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawayada have been shortlisted to set up the port.

In addition, a new outer harbour will be developed in the VOC port at Thoothukkudi, Tamil Nadu through PPP at an estimated cost of Rs 7,500 crore. When completed, this will add 42 million tonnes of capacity.

It may be noted, at present 13 ports comes under the Union Ministry of Shipping. These ports are classified as major ports.

Cargo Traffic at Indian Ports from April-September 2012 -13 major and non-major ports in India accomplished a total cargo throughput of 455.8 million tonnes reflecting an increase of only 1.8% over the same period