Chief Minister Raman Singh will lead a State Government delegation to China on a week-long visit on Wednesday (April 6) from New Delhi.
Singh is leaving Raipur in a scheduled flight on Monday evening (April 4) for New Delhi and would leave for the China after a day’s stay in the national capital, official sources informed.
The Chief Minister’s China visit is being seen as an effort to capitalise on the interest shown by the Chinese investors earlier to set up industrial projects and enter into technical collaborations with Indian companies in Chhattisgarh, officials informed.
It may be recalled that China had expressed keen interest in extending support to Chhattisgarh Government for developing India’s ‘logistics Hub’ in the State in January this year.
Notably, State Commerce and Industry Minister Amar Agrawal had suggested Consul General of People’s Republic of China MA Zhanwu while on a visit to Chhattisgarh in January that owing to its location in the heart of the country, Chhattisgarh State can be developed as ‘logistics Hub of India’.
The Consulate General had then assured that China will encourage its industrialists to extend support in development of Chhattisgarh as ‘logistics Hub’ of India.
Moreover, on February 15, both American and Chinese firms as well as other domestic industrial groups had evinced keen interest in investing in various sectors of Chhattisgarh, officials stated.
A delegation of American Chamber of Commerce and US-India Business Council led by American Consul General Thomas Vajda had met Chief Minister Raman Singh in Mumbai.
During the second day of the ‘Make in India’ event, the Chief Minister had invited top investors to invest in Chhattisgarh.
During his discussion with the American and Chinese delegations, Singh had assured the delegates of providing every possible support for setting up industrial projects in Chhattisgarh. Commerce and Industry Minister Amar Agrawal, Chairman of Chhattisgarh State Industrial Development Corporation (CSIDC) Chhagan Mundra and Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand were also present.
Notably, Chhattisgarh’s new capital region—Naya Raipur would have an ‘Integrated Freight Complex’ spread in an area of 130.67 hectares, officials stated.
Early last year, Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had also put forward a proposal that a ‘Cargo Hub’ should be developed in Naya Raipur with a Container Depot in Chhattisgarh.
He said that his Ministry will bear the entire development cost if the Chhattisgarh Government agrees to provide land for the proposed hub.
To this, Chief Minister Raman Singh who had met the Union Railway Minister in New Delhi had assured the latter that his Government will provide land for the project.
The Chhattisgarh Government is already in the process of upgrading infrastructural facility to further accelerate Export-Import ( EXIM) activity from its Inland Container Depot (ICD) located at Kapa in Raipur.
The project cost of the proposed works within the ICD campus is `3.10 crore, officials stated.
The project had been undertaken under ‘Developing Export Infrastructure & Allied Activities’ (ASIDE) scheme of the Central Government .
Significantly, in 2014-15, Raipur Railway division coming under South East Central Railway (SECR) loaded 31.85 million tonnes of freight which is highest since the formation of its Raipur division.
During the past five years, Railway division has earned `11.78 crore from non conventional sources, officials said.
A proposed Freight train with speed of maximum 100 kms per hour will also pass through Chhattisgarh in the East-West Corridor (Kolkata-Mumbai).
The train will traverse through the States of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra as the Ministry of Railways has sanctioned implementation of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) with freight train speeds of maximum 100 Kmph.
Alignment for both WDFC & EDFC has been finalised. WDFC starts from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), Mumbai and passes through the States of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, and terminate at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh. The total length of the Western DFC is about 1500 Kms. Notably, in the domain of Agriculture related exports, Tamarind and Maize of Bastar division is in high demand overseas as proved by exports, officials stated.