Madhya Pradesh seeks DMIC approval for two infra projects

Madhya Pradesh has proposed two industrial infrastructure projects to Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) to the tune of Rs 500 crore approximately. Both the projects would come up in close proximity of Indore, Dewas and Ujjain.

The first project is a water supply project which is set to come up in Pithampur industrial area near Indore.

The other is a multi-pronged investment project of developing a Knowledge City which is likely to come up near temple town of Ujjain. "We have forwarded both the projects to DMIC, the Pithampur water supply project require Rs 200-crore investment and the other Knowledge City project is proposed to come up near Ujjain," PK Dash, additional chief secretary, department of Industries told Business Standard.

The Pithampur industrial area has per day demand of 17-20 million litres of water while the project will have 90 million litres per day of supply once it comes in shape. The industrial area of Pithampur will need more water when existing industries will expand as well as when new industrial investments take place. "The project, if receives DMIC nod, will have a water pipeline from nearby Narmada river," Dash said.

On the other hand, the Knowledge City envisages the development of nearly 448 hectares of land for development of specialised faculty led clusters such as engineering, business and management studies, medical studies, bio-sciences and agriculture studies, environmental and design faculty, vocational and skill development studies and other education streams.

"We have acquired 1200 acres of land for Knowledge City near Narwar village and we are waiting for DMIC's clearance. We hope we will get clearances for both the projects very soon," Dash added.

The Knowledge City will have common industrial purpose infrastructure as well as social infrastructure estate management, administration, residential, entertainment, schools, hospitals and other related infrastructure like city centre.

Once the government gets DMIC approval, it will develop both the projects on public private partnership (PPP) model. Meanwhile, the Knowledge City has been conceptualized to revive the city Ujjain as modern learning centre.