Kolkata: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has joined hands with the Bengal government to undertake study and development of the West Bengal Economic Corridors.
The study aims at strategising economic development across the nodes of Andal-Panagarh, Kharagapur-Goaltore-Salboni, Haldi Tajpur and growth centres such as Siliguri, Dankuni and Kalyani with urban-industriallogistics-skills-energy-social sector convergence.
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had recently announced the Industrial and Economic Corridor Policy and that the government plans to develop and upgrade three new corridors in South Bengal which are — Dankuni–Kalyani, Tajpur-Raghunathpur & Dankuni-Jhargram corridors; and another corridor from Panagarh to Cooch Behar covering North Bengal districts.
The corridors envisage holistic and planned development through land availability portals and developed infrastructure.
The corridors will generate huge employment opportunities across the state.
Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi held a meeting with key industries on the Industrial and Economic Corridor Project on Friday. Senior representatives from ADB, Deloitte, FICCI, senior officers of key industries and representatives of Industrial parks along the identified corridors attended the meeting. ADB is keen to support the projects with technical expertise and funding.
ADB has worked on several landmark corridor projects including the East Coast Economic Corridor and the Bangladesh Corridor Study.
Secretaries and senior officials from all relevant departments were also present at the meeting.
The industry and logistics sector representatives welcomed the Government initiatives and suggested some interventions to boost the economic and industrial developed corridor.