New Kanpur Township To Be Launched Today

The Rs 40,000 crore plan for the establishment of a new industrial city, New Integrated Kanpur Industrial Development Authority (NIKIDA), is expected to be formally launched by the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Chief Minister, Mayawati, on August 15.

This marks a shift in the UP governments policy to develop regions lying close to Delhi to the heartland of the state. This move is expected to spur the development of about 15 districts in the state and provide an immediate boost to the sagging industrial and commercial centre, Kanpur, which at one time was the principal city of Northern India.

The planners argue that at a macro level, the countrys population in the year 2050 AD will be 160 crore, of which, at least 75 crore will be living in the cities, given the projected 55:45 rural-urban ratio. Hence, there is a need to build more cities to accommodate this large population while providing viable living conditions. These cities have to be located in areas which have ample resources to support this population.

 

Besides being the largest greenfield project of this genre, NIKIDA is also the first of its kind. It is proposed to be partly located on the left bank of the Ganges in the district of Unnao and partly on the right side of the river in Kanpur district.

It will be built in an area of 200,000 acres of which about 30,000 acres of land will be acquired initially. This will be divided into 15,000 acres for housing and another 10,000 acres for industry. The area chosen is sparsely populated with a population of 3 lakhs. It has natural lakes and is surrounded by ample greenery all around.

The entire project will be built around service industries. Of the three which have been earmarked are Information Technology (IT), Health and Leisure.

A cyber city of 5000 acres is planned with complete data communication facilities. It is estimated that the IT industry will control about 70 per cent of the world business by the year 2015. Presently at the national level there is a huge gap of 1.25 lakh software professionals.

Malaysia, which is developing a major hub of the software industry is looking towards India for recruiting computer professionals.

These projections provide the basis of the IT industry being the fulcrum around which the cyber city is to be planned and built.

Another industry being vouched for at NIKIDA is the health industry

The place will have superspeciality hospitals which would attract patients from Afro-Asia areas.

Leisure is the third major industry which is proposed to be developed at NIKIDA. There are plans to develop a holiday resort on an area of about 6000 acres. Additionally there are plans to have two golf courses, a golf academy, a tennis academy, club sports, water sports and canoeing facility, a lake spread over 150 acres which can be achieved by improving the existing natural lake, a bird sanctuary, hotels and villas.

There is a need for an international airport to be located at a distance of not more than 500 Kms away from Delhi. An airport on 10,000 acres area is planned which will be on the same lines as is being thought of for New Bombay or the one being developed near Kuala Lumpur. It is being thought of to develop it as regional hub in addition to having an aircraft maintenance facility which presently does not exist in the country.

The project will be financed though national and international investments. India has been able to attract investments from all over the world. There are many companies at the international level which are flush with funds and are looking for attractive opportunities to invest. It is expected that NIKIDA would be able to attract a significant amount from this pool.

It is expected that 2 lakh families will reside in the area. There is sufficient water supply to meet demand since a Ganga Barrage is being constructed which can supply water to at least 3 million inhabitants. NIKIDA will get established in a period of 10 to 15 years.