Firdous Hassan
Srinagar: Centre is planning to connect Jammu with Amritsar Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC) to boost manufacturing and logistic sectors in Jammu and Kashmir.
Amritsar Delhi Kolkata Industrial Corridor (ADKIC) is a proposed industrial route, which will connect the northern industrial and agricultural centers with the key ports of western India including Jamnagar and Kandla in Gujarat.
The initiative aims to significantly expand both industry and infrastructure in the states that make up the corridor’s route.
An official document accessed by The Kashmir Monitor revealed that the Centre is planning to extend AKIC to Jammu as part of the National Industrial Corridor Programme aimed at the development of futuristic industrial cities in India.
“The GOI plans to connect Jammu with AKIC as per the National Industrial Corridor Development Program and the UT government shall declare the existing alignment of Amritsar – Jammu highway as a freight corridor,” it said.
The corridor will help boost the industrial revolution connecting the industrial belt of Baddi, Bhatinda, and Ludhiana through spurs and the state of Jammu and Kashmir through the Delhi -Amritsar- Katra Expressway.
The document said that the corridor will create employment opportunities and economic growth in the union territory. “The objective would be to create state-of-the-art world-class infrastructure to promote local commerce, enhance investment, generate employment, and attain sustainable development,” it said.
Centre has directed the UT administration to identify at least one Mega Industrial Zone as Investment Node on the dedicated corridor.
“The work on the identification of the Mega Industrial Zone will begin soon. This addition of Jammu to AKIC will certainly benefit and revolutionize the industrial sector of the union territory. In particular, this will promote logistics and e-commerce by reducing the distance between cities with enhanced infrastructure in place. The project’s goal is to create an industrial zone that spans seven Indian states and 20 cities within each of these states,” official sources said.
Amritsar-Jamnagar Greenfield corridor worth Rs 26,000 crore is all set to be completed by September 2023.
The extension of Jammu to AKIC is believed to attract more investors to the union territory.
The administration is simultaneously promoting Jammu and Kashmir as investor destinations by calling major business houses to invest in the union territory. In the last two years, the Union Territory administration has received investment proposals worth Rs 66,000 crore.
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