Vizag-Chennai Industrial Corridor off to slow start despite clearances

Project expected to attract investments worth Rs 1 lakh cr

The Vizag-Chennai Industrial Corridor Development Programme (VCICDP), running along the eastern coast of India, has got off to slow start, despite having received the administrative sanction for the much-anticipated project that is expected to attract investments worth Rs 1 lakh crore.

The Andhra Pradesh government accorded the administrative sanction for the Rs 3,187-crore ($ 483 million) project on Thursday. 
 

Earlier in February, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) had signed a loan agreement to provide over Rs 2,438 crore ($375 million) towards the implementation of the project.

Vizag-Chennai industrial corridor was conceived by the Centre as a part of the East Coast Industrial Corridor starting from West Bengal to Kerala. The project was aimed at to building economic hubs across the eastern coast of India. The project was proposed to be taken up by the respective states with support from external funding.

In 2014, the UPA government had included this project as part of a development package for the truncated Andhra Pradesh at the time of state bifurcation. The NDA government had subsequently promised the state that it would convert the loan component into grants by taking the responsibility for the ADB loan.

Though the administrative sanction by the state government came late, some of the departments that were involved in the project implementation have recently initiated the work as the funding was already tied up, according to the state officials. 

Ajai Jain, principal secretary, Energy and Infrastructure, said that the energy department has already invited tenders for the construction of electric sub-stations required for power supply in areas being developed as industrial clusters.

The industrial corridor development programme involves tasks such as the creation of internal infrastructure in the industrial clusters, urban water supply, road connectivity and development of power transmission and distribution networks. The VCIC was proposed as a nodal development platform consisting of four nodes- Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Amaravati and Yerpedu-Srikalahasti. Industrial clusters will be developed at these four nodal points.

The state industry department will approve the annual action plan for the development programme, as per the government orders. The state government will contribute Rs 712 crore towards the project.