DMIC may turn out to be a white elephant

Aurangabad, Feb 6:

The government is ready to provide concessions to industries for investment in Shendra-Bidkin industrial park at DMIC, but multinational companies or big industries in the country are not keen to invest in Aurangabad. The industrial fraternity has expressed fears that the DMIC project may turn out to be a white elephant for the city.

With the expectation of an investment of about Rs 70,000 crore by 2022 and employment opportunities for 2.5 lakh local youth, the government set up DMIC on an area of 10,000 acres in Aurangabad. Shendra and Bidkin phase are currently ready for investment. However, apart from Shendra, Bidkin phase is completely deserted. There is no anchor project yet. Around 10 industries, including Hyosung and Perkins, have started production, while plots have been transferred to 61 industries, including the Russian company Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) and Fuji Silver Tech. Project construction work of these industries is also underway. Entrepreneurs here said that Aurangabad has a conducive environment for investment. The industries here have paid Rs 103.44 crore to the government through GST till the end of December and the income tax department expects to collect Rs 33 crore in these three months. So even bigger industries should come here. Entrepreneurs expect the government to give priority to overcoming the lack of infrastructure to attract them.

Need to start international flights

Entrepreneur Rishi Bagla said that industries in Aurangabad are expanding. But, there are a lot of options for industries coming from outside. Aurangabad does not have direct international air connectivity for industries investing in DMIC. If the government thinks about this, it will be very useful.

Direct rail connectivity to port

CMIA president Kamleish Dhoot said that the government should provide direct international air connectivity to Aurangabad to boost the investments. He also expressed the need to start railway service from Jalna to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust via Pune.