Faridabad eyes industrial revival

[webmaster]

Faridabad eyes industrial revival
Source: The Financial Express,Jan 15 2009

Chandigarh: Gurgaon may have surpassed Faridabad, known as the industrial capital of Haryana, in terms of industrial growth, but the latter is fast catching up with a slew of infrastructure projects in the pipeline.

The demand of the local industry for space has been fulfilled with an industrial model township to be developed by Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) in Ballabgarh (Faridabad).

HSIIDC’s third industrial model township (IMT) in Faridabad will be spread over 1,750 acres and is expected to capitalise on the opportunities likely to be thrown open by the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor being developed along the dedicated freight corridor alignment from Delhi to Mumbai. The Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) is being established by the Central government with Japanese collaboration.

Apprising FE about the IMT, Brijendra Singh, deputy commissioner, Faridabad said, “The land has been acquired by HSIIDC and about 90% of the total amount due has been distributed among the farmers. It amounts to over Rs 450 crore and the rest will be dispatched soon. The traditional manufacturing industry comprising automobile, tools & spares and textiles is likely to get a boost with development of the IMT.

He further added, “Space for industrial plots was not available in this region and industry was in a bad shape ten years ago. But now it has started treading the growth path as other nearby cities are saturated with industrial development.”

On the connectivity front, Faridabad has various road development projects in its kitty. Recently, Reliance Infrastructure, the infrastructure arm of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, bagged a road project of over 66 km on high density traffic zone. It involves four-laning of Gurgaon-Faridabad road and improvement of Ballabgarh-Sohana road on Built Operate Transfer basis. The project is expected to be completed in 2 years from the date of commencement with a concession period of 17 years.

Reliance Infrastructure has also emerged as the sole bidder for 135-km green field eastern peripheral expressway project covering Haryana, Delhi & UP on build operate and transfer (BOT) basis. The project will entail an investment of around Rs 2,676 crore as per the NHAI estimate and involves construction of green field six-lane expressway with access control highway connecting Faridabad-Noida-Ghaziabad-Sonepat, which will also act as bypass to Delhi with a concession period of 20 years. The project is specifically designed to decongest traffic in the capital under High Court instructions.

Singh further added, “The Badarpur flyover to be developed by NHAI has also been approved and it will facilitate the commuters to avoid traffic chaos. We expect the six-laning of the NH 2 connecting Badarpur border to Agra to start by the end of this year. It will entail an investment of over Rs 2,000 crore. A 26 km long Faridabad bypass is also being developed by Huda at a cost of Rs 126 crore. An ROB is being built with an investment of Rs 20 crore along the bypass.”

Beside roads, Faridabad is slated to get a new rail link with the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor on track of implementation. HSIIDC has identified few early bird projects to be developed along the corridor passing through the state, which include two new rail links from Faridabad to Gurgaon and Jhajjar to Farrukhnagar.