Maharashtra gets a third manufacturing zone
21 Jul 2012
Nagpur will host Maharashtra's third and the country's ninth National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ), union minister of commerce, industry and textiles Anand Sharma announced today.
The proposed NIMZ, spread over an area of 6,280 hectares across Kuhi and Umred talukas of Nagpur district, is expected to attract investment of around Rs25,000 crore and provide gainful employment to 2,60,000 people in Nagpur district.
''I am happy to inform that 'in-principle' approval has been accorded to the proposal, given its significance,'' the minister said after inaugurating the National Institute of Intellectual Property Management (NIIPM).
The first seven NIMZs in the country were:
- Ahmedabad-Dholera Investment Region, Gujarat (900 sq km);
- Shendra-Bidkin Industrial Park city near Aurangabad, Maharashtra (84 sq km);
- Manesar-Bawal Investment Region, Haryana (380 sq km);
- Khushkhera-Bhiwadi-Neemrana Investment Region, Rajasthan (150 sq km);
- Pithampur-Dhar-Mhow Investment Region, Madhya Pradesh (370 sq km);
- Dadri-Noida-Ghaziabad Investment Region, Uttar Pradesh (250 sq km); and
- Dighi Port Industrial Area, Maharashtra (230 sq km).
The eighth NIMZ, the Jodhpur-Pali Investment Region, was added to the list later.
Sharma also announced plans for setting up a state-of-the-art convention centre at Nagpur, on a land provided by the state government. Such convention centres have already been set up in Chennai and Bangaluru in partnership with the respective states, he said.
The cost of construction of the center would be met from the ASIDE scheme of the central government, he added.
Besides, the minister also directed the setting up of a virtual APEDA centre at Nagpur. APEDA already has a full fledged office in Mumbai, which has been functioning since 1990.
In states where APEDA does not have a physical office, its activities are conducted in conjunction with the respective state governments through virtual offices.
Later, at a gathering of industry leaders from Vidarbha and other regions of the state, Sharma was apprised of the issues pertaining to the multi-modal international cargo hub and airport at Nagpur (MIHAN), an airport-cum-SEZ.
The minister also announced plans for a comprehensive review of the SEZ guidelines and fine tuning them for retaining their attractiveness.
