India announces a $50 billion development corridor project from New Delhi to Mumbai.

April 20 (EIRNS) -- Outlining the key features of an ambitious $50 Billion infrastructure project, the Manmohan Singh government in New Delhi announced on April 18 that the 1483 km-long Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor would begin in January 2008 and be ready by 2015, said the Business Standard, a financial news daily from New Delhi.

The corridor will be built with Japanese participation and will run along both sides of the Delhi-Mumbai dedicated railway freight corridor, now under construction by India's Ministry of Railways.

The industrial corridor will run across Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra-- the underlying Indian states between Delhi and Mumbai. The project influence area is likely to be 14 percent of the total land area of the country. "Nearly 180 million people live in the area, where the industrial corridor is scheduled to come up," said Union Industry Secretary, Ajoy Dua.

"The draft concept paper on the project will be ready by April 25 and a presentation on the status of the project will be made to the Indian and Japanese prime ministers, during the latter's visit to India in September this year," Dua added.

The Japanese participation in the industrial corridor was developed during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Japan last December when a Memorandum of Understanding to that effect was signed. Subsequently, a Task Force was set up under the Minister of Economic,Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan.