ADB joins hand with Bengal govt to study economic corridors' development

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has joined hands with the West Bengal government to undertake a study for the development of state economic corridors, a government statement said on Friday.

The ADB is "keen to support the projects with technical expertise and funding", it said.

The government, in the statement, said the study aims at "strategising economic development across the nodes of Andal-Panagarh, Kharagapur-Goaltore-Salboni and growth centres such as Siliguri, Dankuni and Kalyani with urban-industriallogistics-skills-energy-social sector convergence".

The ADB has worked on a number of landmark projects, including the East Coast Economic Corridor and the Bangladesh Corridor study, it said.

During the day, a stakeholder consultation meeting was held by Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi with key industries on the Industrial and Economic Corridor Project.

Senior representatives from ADB, consulting firm Deloitte, industry body FICCI and various businesses of the industrial parks along the identified corridors attended the meeting.

Notably, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had recently announced the Industrial and Economic Corridor Policy and that the government plans to develop and upgrade three corridors -- DankuniKalyani, Tajpur-Raghunathpur and Dankuni-Jhargram -- in south Bengal, and another from Panagarh to Cooch Behar covering north Bengal districts.

"The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has joined hands with the Government of West Bengal to undertake study and development of the state economic corridors," the statement said.

The industry and logistics sector representatives welcomed the government initiatives and suggested some interventions to boost the economic and industrial corridor.

The corridors will be developed through the land availability portal and will generate huge employment opportunities across West Bengal, the statement added.

The corridors are expected to attract significant investment and create new jobs in a variety of sectors, including manufacturing, logistics, and tourism, an official said.