Consultants for Delhi-Mumbai corridor by June

MUMBAI: The government will soon appoint a group of consultants for the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project, one of the most ambitious trade and business development initiatives in India.

“Sixteen consulting agencies have been short-listed and the government is expected to take a final call in June,” said Abhaya Agarwal, senior vice-president, IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (IIDC).

He said the group of consultants appointed by the government will start work by July 2008. “Seventeen consultants from across the world had submitted expressions of interest for participating in DMIC. Of these, 16 were finally short listed,” he said.

The DMIC project is spread over an area of 4,36,486 square kilometers and will pass through Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra and the union territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagra Haveli.

The project will synergise with the 1,483 kilometre high-speed dedicated freight corridor (DFC) that connects Delhi and Mumbai.

The project will have a spread of 150 square kilometers on both sides, wherein airports, ports, manufacturing and industrial hubs and special economic zones will be developed. “This is where the major part of private investment will come,” said Agarwal.

The government of Japan is likely to fund a major chunk of the project. Several private companies from Japan will also set up shop under DMIC, a Japan External Trade Organisation official said.

According to figures available from the commerce ministry, the DMIC’s influence area comprises a combined population of 178 million, constituting 17% of the total population of the country. The states falling under DMIC contribute 60% of overall exports from the country.

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