CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government is fast-tracking work on the ambitious Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC) and the key shareholders and State support agreements will be signed next month. This was confirmed to Express by N Muruganandam, Principal Secretary to Industries Department.
“All bottlenecks have been cleared. The State Support Agreement and Shareholder’s Agreement will be signed within a month. The government will be registering a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with the Central government for the execution of the project and the Ponneri node.”
The Government of India is developing the corridor among Chennai, Bengaluru and Chitradurga across an overall length of about 560 km to achieve accelerated development and regional industry agglomeration in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Three industrial nodes are proposed along this corridor —Krishnapatnam Industrial Node in Andhra Pradesh, Ponneri Industrial Node in Tamil Nadu and Tumakuru Industrial Node in Karnataka.
‘Project to begin with TIDCO land’
The Ponneri node will be the largest with an estimated investment of Rs 32,713 crore. On land acquisition, Muruganandam said the exact quantum of land required and area to be notified for acquisition will be known once the master plan is prepared. “Detailed master planning is being done by Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation for the Ponneri node,” he said.
However, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha, revealed that Tamil Nadu has initiated the land acquisition process of 21,966 acres. The industries secretary said work will commence with whatever land that is readily available with Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO).