The Naya Raipur Development Authority (NRDA) is in the process of constructing a Multi-modal logistic Park in Chhattisgarh’s new capital.
Chhattisgarh’s new hi-tech capital would also have an ‘Integrated Freight Complex’ spread in an area of 130.67 hectares, officials stated.
Early this year, Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had also put forward a proposal that a ‘Cargo Hub’ should be developed in Naya Raipur .
He had stated 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 and had assured the latter that his Government will provide land for the project.
Notably, the Central Government has accorded 'final approval' to the proposed Electronic Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) in Chhattisgarh’s new capital here.
The Greenfield EMC in Chhattisgarh was accorded 'in-principle' approval as on September 21, 2015.
The location of the EMC is at Tuta village in Sector-22 of Naya Raipur . The chief promoter of the project is Chhattisgarh State Industrial Development Corporation (CSIDC) and the project is to be established in an area measuring 70 acres .
Notably, on December 20 last year, the Chhattisgarh Government had informed in an official statement that the Central Government has consented to provide its final approval to the EMC .
An assurance in this regard was given by Union Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh during a meeting in New Delhi on December 20.
Providing details on the 'Electronic Manufacturing Cluster' during the meeting, Chief Minister Raman Singh had told the Union Minister, as per the official statement, that as many as 11 companies have signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to the tune of around `968 crore for setting up projects in the cluster.
The Chhattisgarh Government has completed requisite preparation for development of the 'Electronic Manufacturing Cluster' and work in this regard is going to start immediately after receiving final approval from the Centre, it had mentioned.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister had also informed Prasad that Chhattisgarh is the first State in the country to offer its consent for setting up of Optical Fiber network under Bharat Net project and it has started the process for formation of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). During the next three years, the State Government is going to connect as many as 10000 village panchayats with broadband facility, he had informed.
Moreover, the Chief Minister had also urged the Union Minister to provide special administrative and financial incentives for Chhattisgarh, considering its unique geographical location for successful implementation of the important 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 old 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 G overnment .
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, SECR's 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 Union 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 finalized. 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 which was to the tune of more than `100 crore last year, officials stated.
During the Kharif season last year, more than six lakh quintals of maize worth `85 crore was exported from Bastar. Similarly 50,000 quintals of Tamarind worth Rs 20 crore was exported last year.
Significantly, the maize produced by Bastar is being exported to USA, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Vietnam while tamarind is being exported to Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Dubai.