In news- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will be providing a $484 million loan (over Rs 3,500 crore) to improve transport connectivity and facilitate industrial development in the Chennai-Kanyakumari Industrial Corridor (CKIC) in Tamil Nadu.
About CKIC-
- The Chennai-Kanyakumari Industrial Corridor is part of India’s East Coast Economic Corridor (ECEC), which stretches from West Bengal to Tamil Nadu and connects India to the production networks of South, Southeast, and East Asia.
- The ADB is the lead partner of the Indian government in developing the ECEC.
- The funding will be used for a project to upgrade about 590 kilometers of state highways in the CKIC influence areas, covering 23 of the 32 districts between Chennai and Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu.
Six industrial nodes viz., Madurai–Dindigul-Virudhunagar-Theni, Thoothukudi-Tirunelveli, Ramanathapuram, Cuddalore-Nagapattinam, Tiruchirappalli-Pudukkottai-Sivaganga and Ariyalur-Perambalur have been identified
About Industrial corridors-
The Govt. of India is developing various Industrial Corridor Projects as part of National Industrial Corridor programme which is aimed at development of futuristic industrial cities in India. 11 Industrial Corridors Projects are being taken up for development in 4 phases up to 2024-25.
- Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC);
- Chennai Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC);
- Amritsar Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC);
- East Coast Industrial Corridor (ECIC);
- Bengaluru Mumbai Industrial Corridor (BMIC);
- Extension of CBIC to Kochi via Coimbatore;
- Hyderabad Nagpur Industrial Corridor (HNIC);
- Hyderabad Warangal Industrial Corridor (HWIC);
- Hyderabad Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (HBIC);
- Odisha Economic Corridor (OEC);
- Delhi Nagpur Industrial Corridor (DNIC);
Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) has been considered as the transportation backbone for the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project while Eastern DFC has been considered as the backbone for Amritsar Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC) project. NH-4 has been considered as the backbone for projects like Chennai Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC) and Bengaluru Mumbai Industrial Corridor (BMIC).
For the East Coast Economic Corridor (ECEC), NH-5 which is part of the Golden Quadrilateral, the Kolkata– Chennai rail route has been considered as the transport backbone. The proposed North- South East-West and East Coast Dedicated Freight Corridors will further supplement the existing transportation backbone for the corresponding Industrial Corridors.
