DMIC: Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Gets Underway With Land Acquisition

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DMIC: Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Gets Underway With Land Acquisition 

By P.K.Balachandran, The New Indian Express, 18th March 2016  

COLOMBO:  In a significant step towards the implementation of the Government of India’s ambitious Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project, land has been acquired for four of the eight smart cities to come up along the 1500 km long corridor, and development of the land acquired has already started, said Alkesh K. Sharma, CEO the DMIC Development Corporation.

Speaking to Express on the sidelines of the Asian Development Forum here on Friday, the Kerala-cadre IAS officer said that the developed land will be available for use by September. And by 2018, the entire infrastructure will be in place.

The DMIC will be one of the world’s largest integrated industrial corridors in the world,generating enormous amounts of industrial output, trade, and employment, thanks to the application of multiple information and communication technologies, Sharma said.

The US$ 100 million DMIC will have two international airports, cities with MRTS and multi-nodal logistic hubs across the states of UP, MP, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

With the involvement of reputed consultants from the UK, US, Sweden, Singapore and Hong Kong, the Master Plan for the DMIC is of international standard, Sharma said.

Every utility in the smart cities will be integrated with a central command through an ICT system. The system will enable the detection of faults with precision. All cables, water supply pipes and drains will be underground to make the cities green.

The project has an integrated water management plan and also a smart electric supply scheme, tapping into and integrating all sources of energy including wind and solar power to ensure a 24X7 service.

To make the corridor directly beneficial to locals, youth of the area will be given training in new trades and given employment in the industries and other establishments coming up in the corridor.

The smart cities have been given special power by an act of parliament and therefore the approved and Master Plan cannot be tampered with according to the whims of politicians, Sharma said.

The eight investment regions proposed to be developed in Phase I of DMIC are: Dadri-Noida-Ghaziabad Investment Region in UP; the Manesar-Bawal Investment Region in Haryana; the Khushkhera- Bhiwadi-Neemrana Investment Region and the Jodhpur Pali Marwar Industrial Area in Rajasthan; the Pithampur-Dhar-Mhow Investment Region in Madhya Pradesh; Ahmedabad-Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) in Gujarat; and the Shendra-Bidkin Industrial Park and Dighi Port Industrial Area in Maharashtra.

The Ahmedabad-Dholera SIR is the biggest of these with a total area of 920 sq kms, with a target residential population of two million and employment for 800,000 people by 2040.

The original news item is available here.

http://www.newindianexpress.com/world/Delhi-Mumbai-Industrial-Corridor-Gets-Underway-With-Land-Acquisition/2016/03/18/article3334109.ece 

[Barun]

All land acquired by DMIC is free of litigation, says MD & CEO of the DMICDC 

* The government’s policy is that farmers should not be put at a loss, which is reflected in our acquisition process as well. Each state has its own method of land acquisition. Here we say that if you give us land, we will give you half the land back after developing it

Chhaya Sharma | The Financial Express | June 28, 2016  

With an envisaged investment of $100 billion by 2040 and the tag line ‘India Reimagined’, the 1,504-km Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) across six states is intended to be developed as a global manufacturing and trading hub. Nine years after the idea was first mooted and four years since the Cabinet approved the proposal, some progress is visible on the ground. Alkesh Kumar Sharma, who was appointed the MD & CEO of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC) in October last year, says R10,500 crore has already been spent and DMICDC is in hot pursuit of investors, including the Japanese, now that the work on the ground is getting much-needed momentum. In an interview with FE’s Banikinkar Pattanayak and KG Narendranath, Sharma adds that despite a massive acquisition drive by DMICDC, all land is free of litigation, although he admits the new land acquisition Act would drive up costs.

Excerpts:

Q> DMIC is touted as the world’s single-largest infrastructure project. It was one of the important measures announced by the government to help drive the share of manufacturing in the country’s GDP to 25% by 2022 from roughly 16% now. How has the progress been?

The important point is the project has started taking off on the ground. Master planning for eight cities has been completed and the development of trunk infrastructure has started in four cities. Around R10,500 crore has been spent, including states’ contribution (R5,000-5,500 crore) in the form of land. In Dholera (Gujarat), we’ve acquired 6,000 acres. By the end of this year, we want some anchor investors to put their money in the project. With those funds, we can acquire another chunk of land and start developing it. Roughly 60% of all DMIC projects will be devoted to industry and the rest to residential, commercial infrastructure and hospitals etc. Road development and laying of trunk pipelines has started in four cities—Dholera, Shendra-Bidkin (Maharashtra), Vikram Udyogpuri (Madhya Pradesh) and Greater Noida (Uttar Pardesh). We are looking at defence manufacturing in Gujarat.

Since the envisaged investment in DMIC is $100 billion for all the four phases, you obviously need investors. Apart from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which has pledged some funds, has any investor shown interest yet?

Some diplomatic missions are asking us about DMIC projects because they are getting queries. Sweden organised a conference on DMIC. The Indian ambassador to Italy has been seeking information, saying he is getting queries there on DMIC. Japan, obviously, has shown interest. Our missions in Taiwan and South Korea have asked for details. A list is being prepared of investors who had asked for information on DMIC at the Vibrant Gujarat summit. By August, potential investors will be short-listed; by the end of the year we will be able to allot land to them, if the deals materialise. The same is happening in Maharashtra.

Q> And have you approached any investors yet?

We want big anchor investors and are in touch with a couple of such foreign investors. All investments will be project-based. We hear that South Korean Exim Bank is looking to invest $5-6 billion in India; we are pitching for their funds. We are looking at platforms like US-India Business Council, India-Japan Business Forum, Korea-India Business Forum and Sweden-India Business Council for attracting investments.

Q> What kind of funds JICA has committed for DMIC; what is the nature of its engagement?

JICA has committed $4.5 billion, to begin with. They said they could help us build connectivity infrastructure. The committed funds will be in the form of soft loans at a low interest rate (in case of DMIC, maybe less than 1%). In fact, JICA has so far shown interest in developing two metros—one in Haryana and other in Gujarat.

Q> Do Japanese funds prevent DMICDC from using technology from elsewhere?

No. In our case, the basic principle is that if the technology is available in India, we negotiate with the Japanese and will use our own technology. But if it’s not available indigenously, then we will preferably use theirs.

Q> How much Japanese funding has DMICDC received so far?

Japanese funds will come when projects start taking off. Right now, JICA is studying two MRTS (Mass Rapid Transit System) projects that are mature. So far, we haven’t sought funds from JICA, as we are using our government funds. The priority is to use our funds first for development. But commitments from JICA are there, under which they are studying those two projects.

Q> What is the progress on Dholera project; how are you planning to fund it?

Work for phase one of Dholera project, which involves development of 154 sq km, has started. In this phase, we need R40,000 crore to develop trunk infrastructure. We have developed a land allocation plan through which we lease out the land developed by us and earn revenue. Now, in most cases, the revenue earned matches the required spending.

However, where the cash outflow is higher than the inflow, we need some kind of financing support.

Q> How much budgetary support have you received so far from the Centre?

The Centre has committed $4.5 billion for the first phase of DMIC, and has released R5,000 crore so far. Now that tendering has started, the $4.5 billion will be exhausted over the next 3-4 years, after which we will need more money. Investments will also come by way of activities at industrial centres, educational institutions, hospitals, etc, most of which will be on a public-private partnership basis.

Since you develop so much land, are you facing problems in land acquisition?

The land we have acquired is free of any litigation. Acquisition is mostly by mutual consent, through negotiations.

Q> Has new land acquisition Act raised compensation levels?

It will raise the cost of land acquisition. The government’s policy is that farmers should not be put at a loss, which is reflected in our acquisition process as well. Each state has its own method of land acquisition. The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) Act has a model for land acquisition. Gujarat follows its own town planning model. Here we say that if you give us land, we will give you half the land back after developing it. Farmers have started realising that although they will get back only half the land they give us, the value of that much of developed land will be much higher than the entire original undeveloped piece of land.

Q> How do you plan to provide logistics support to manufacturing companies?

To start with, we will set up two multi-modal logistics hubs in Dadri (Uttar Pradesh) and Nangal Chaudhary (Haryana). We have also done feasibility study for such hubs in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Q> Why hasn’t the planned power project at Dholera taken off?

We had planned to set up five plants with a capacity of 1,000 MW each. We’ve even had land ready for four plants, along with other clearances. However, domestic gas wasn’t available and the cost of imported gas was higher. So, the availability of cheap gas is an issue. We are now looking at alternate modes of electricity generation, including solar energy.

Q> Of the four cities where work has started, where will it be completed first?

Progress is fairly good everywhere. But while work (like giving contracts) started in February-March in three cities, in Greater Noida it began in April. However, at all places, the work is visible on the ground.