The Hindu : Front Page : Develop Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor: Karunanidhi

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Thursday, Nov 01, 2007
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Develop Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor: Karunanidhi

R.K. Radhakrishnan

Chief Minister makes the plea in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Says most of the investments are on the stretch between Chennai and Sriperumbudur

CHENNAI: Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to “announce the development of the Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor as an Industrial Corridor of Excellence on the lines of the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor.”

In a letter to Dr. Singh on October 26, Mr. Karunanidhi said many multinational companies had chosen Chennai to set up huge manufacturing facilities. Many Special Economic Zones were coming up. Most of these investments were in the corridor between Chennai and Sriperumbudur.

“Our Government has, therefore, decided to develop Chennai-Sriperumbudur-Ranipet as an Industrial Corridor of Excellence. It is our vision to locate industrial parks, SEZs, IT parks, integrated townships, etc., along the corridor,” he said. The objective was to provide “globally competitive infrastructure and promote inclusive and sustainable industrial development.”

Said Mr. Karunanidhi: “We expect that this process of development will slowly move beyond Ranipet on the National Highway towards Bangalore. Thus there is great potential to develop the Chennai-Bangalore corridor as an Industrial Corridor of Excellence similar to the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor announced by the Government of India. “You will agree that the concept of balanced development of all regions would call for urgent steps to develop the Chennai-Bangalore corridor while the Delhi-Mumbai corridor is being developed.

“The corridor between Chennai and Bangalore has already several key strengths in terms of availability of industries, skilled manpower and other basic infrastructure. Such a corridor can capitalise on the strength of Chennai and Bangalore. The international airports in Chennai and Bangalore and the two major sea ports [Chennai and Ennore] in Chennai can further contribute to the growth of this corridor.” Asked about benefits of such a corridor, Industries Secretary Sakthikanta Das said it would benefit Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Strengths of Bangalore and its neighbourhood in information technology, and that of Chennai and its nearby areas in automobile technology, manufacturing and electronics would attract more investments to the region. The corridor would also enable development of the neighbourhood within a radius of about 20 to 25 km.

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