Hyderabad: The Zaheerabad industrial smart city project in Telangana, greenlighted by the Union cabinet as part of 12 cities across the country, is expected to attract investments worth over Rs 15,000 crore and create nearly two lakh direct and indirect jobs, top Telangana officials said. The plan will also boost Zaheerabad as a big standalone industrial township with access to west coast ports, attracting companies that have import/export component in their business.
The project was also in line with Telangana govt's focus on decentralising industrial growth, according to state industries and commerce special chief secretary Jayesh Ranjan.
"It is happening in a faraway location that also has a large rural catchment, which is good for the state and is aligned with Telangana govt's approach," Ranjan told TOI.
The 3,245-acre industrial smart city, approved by the Centre as part of the Rs 28,602 crore National Industrial Corridor Development Programme (NICDP), is the main industrial node of the Hyderabad-Nagpur industrial corridor. It will be developed under the overall master plan of the erstwhile Zaheerabad NIMZ (National Investment and Manufacturing Zone) at a cost of Rs 2,369.82 crore as per the proposal submitted by Telangana to the Centre, Ranjan said.
It will be developed by a special purpose vehicle (SPV) in which Telangana will hold 51% stake and Govt of India (GoI) the rest, Ranjan added. Telangana's stake will be held by Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Ltd (TGIIC) by way of land and NICDIT (National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust), and the Centre's stake will be in cash for constructing internal infrastructure, he said.
Ranjan said while the Union cabinet has already approved a debt of Rs 655 crore for internal infrastructure, the state has also sought its support for building external infrastructure such as water, power and roads at an outlay of around Rs 500 crore.
"We have acquired land. It is now at a stage where some infrastructure has been completed and some land has been allotted. The rest will happen as per the new scheme," he said, adding that the project, which was pending for over five years, will now take about two to three years to develop.
Ranjan said Telangana has already allotted around 500 acres to anchor clients such as Korean auto giant Hyundai (300 acres) for its R&D facility and test track and aerospace & defence player VEM Technologies.
"Now that it has been announced I'm sure lots of companies will be interested and Centre will also showcase it. They have also received lots of investment proposals," he said.
"There is a strong automotive cluster here already. So, we will be pushing more automotive, EV and energy storage players," Ranjan said, adding that other sectors keen on having port access too may set up shop.
Zaheerabad is already Mahindra & Mahindra's manufacturing hub for small tractors and some commercial vehicles.
Union coal and mines minister and Secunderabad Lok Sabha MP G Kishan Reddy said that apart from the auto sector, other target sectors are electrical equipment, food processing, machinery & equipment, metals & non-metallic based industries and transport equipment. The project has bagged the requisite environmental clearances (EC) from the Union environment and forests ministry, Reddy said.
(From: TOI)