JICA to submit report on Chennai-Blore corridor by Sept

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which has been appointed to do a feasibility study on the Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor, said it would submit the report for the first phase by September.

Stating this, Shin Oya, chief representative (India), Japan Bank for International Cooperation, said the project was important for the Japan-India relationship and it could be a good investment for urbanisation. He was speaking at a national conference on the corridor organised by industry bodies Assocham and Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Earlier addressing the gathering, C Kandasamy, director-general (road development) and special secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, said, it (the Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor) could go up to Mangalore and the expansion was still being debated. “The project along with the expressway will go hand-in-hand to develop the corridor of rural development between Chennai and Bangalore.”

He added, instead of public-private-partnership there should be addition of people to it to make four ‘Ps’ (people, public, private partnership). This will make it an inclusive project and will be win-win for all stakeholders, including state and Union governments.

Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh government has asked the Centre to include the state in the project. State industries secretary K Pradeep Chandra said Nellore-Tada-Sathyavedu and Hindupur, Khadri could be linked with the corridor as huge ongoing investments are present in that area.