Konkan, Vidarbha to get an infrastructure booster

PUNE: After having attracted automotive majors to set up greenfield sites in the Pune region, Maharashtra government is now targeting infrastructure development in the Konkan and Vidarbha regions.

The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) on Thursday signed four agreements with the India Infrastructure Initiative (III), jointly promoted by the IDFC and Feedback Ventures, for four projects under the public-private partnership route (PPP).

The four projects include an airport at Sindhudurg, a textile SEZ in Kolhapur and two power SEZs — one each in Raigad and Chandrapur. The textile SEZ at Kolhapur is to be spread over 104 hectares. Kolhapur has already emerged as a textile hub, with the presence of several global players including home-grown Raymonds and Mohite Textiles.

In a statement released here on Thursday, the MIDC stated that these projects should see nearly Rs 6,000 crore of new investment into the state, creating jobs and easing some critical infrastructure bottlenecks.

The III will prepare the project report and select partners for the four projects. The III’s model is a no-cost solution to the government or government undertakings since it handholds them through the project preparation and partner selection for the identified infrastructure project.

These services, of creating a pool of bankable infrastructure projects, are charged to the selected private sector partners for the projects and not to the government or its undertakings.

The statement quoted state industries minister Ashok Chavan as saying, “These four projects will help Maharashtra promote industrial growth and employment. They will also help in regional development of the state with both Konkan and Vidarbha benefiting through better connectivity and better power.”

IDFC is the country’s largest specialist infrastructure institution, having financed over a quarter of all debt and equity investments in infrastructure in fiscal 2006. Feedback Ventures is an integrated infrastructure development company.

The textile SEZ in Kolhapur is expected to generate 10,000 jobs, the two power SEZs should add 1,250 MW of generating capacity to the state while the new airport will bring greater connectivity to the Konkan region. The coastal region is being projected as a tourism destination.