The Hindu Business Line : A richly endowed region grows in strength

The 1,616-sq km Asansol-Durgapur Planning area, which abounds in mining resources and has a population of nearly 2.4 million, is located in the western part of Burdwan district, West Bengal. The area has emerged as a key urban and industrial centre with a large workforce, moderate per capita income, good connectivity, industrial establishments,and a large number of housing and educational establishments.

The hinterland extends over north Bengal, Bankura and Purulia districts and parts of Orissa and Jharkhand. The area's population would expectedly increase rapidly in the future and exert considerable pressure on available infrastructure and resources.

Overall planning

The solution lies in not only development of new housing estates but also creation of ample opportunities for economic growth and employment. Overall planning is required to ensure controlled and induced urban development, improve inter and intra-regional connectivity and redefine the image of the Asansol Durgapur Development Authority (ADDA) into a multi-faceted region with a focus on education, housing, information technology and manufacturing. Efforts are also on to develop Asansol into a trade and commerce destination, and Durgapur as a manufacturing, educational, IT and logistics hub.

Over the next 20 years, the key sectors of development in this area would be mining and allied industries, logistics and retail commerce, agro-based and forest industries, education, and IT and tourism. A major shift is expected in the composition of the workforce from the mining and manufacturing sectors to the tertiary sector, with service industries accounting for more than 50 per cent of the workforce.

Investments

Considerable investments have flown in during the past few years, especially in the iron and steel sector, primarily owing to the area's rich industrial tradition and availability of highly competitive power tariffs and good quality coal. With rapid development in the infrastructure and real estate sectors, the demand for steel is expected to remain high. Value-added products and the machining industry will be future focus areas.

The unique location of Durgapur also makes it an ideal destination for the logistics industry. Recently, the first Inland Container Depot of West Bengal was established here, and it is already showing promising returns. The Container Corporation of India (Concor) has been allotted land by ADDA for its operations and the facility is expected to be operational soon.

Considering the discussions already held, and the growth perspective, it is felt that the major focus in the next 20 years should be in developing the industrial estates, housing sector and improving inter and intra-regional connectivity.

Rapid urbanisation

The area is witnessing a rapid pace of urbanisation with ever growing demand for planned housing and quality urban environment. The focus now is on planned urban development in the Asansol and Durgapur Township. The population in this area is expected to increase from 26 lakh currently to 45 lakh by 2025. This may strain the existing urban infrastructure unless efforts are soon taken to augment the infrastructure.

ADDA has prepared a Perspective Plan 2025 with the help of IIT-Kharagpur, covering all aspects of development. The plan has been presented to all the stakeholders in a series of meetings over the past year and the final Plan will be published soon. The focus in the last six years has been on industrial development, housing development — especially for the urban poor, improvement of roads and rural-urban connectivity, and overall urban environment improvement by providing proper sewerage, water and other social infrastructure.

As far as industrial development is concerned, there have been efforts to identify and develop new industrial zones. The Raturia-Angadpur S.I. area, Kanyapur, Jamuria, Mongalpur and Baskopa are some of the prime industrial destinations promoted by ADDA. Efforts have been made to improve the area's industrial infrastructure, roads, drainage and water supply with the involvement of local industries.

Export park

ADDA has also promoted an Export Promotion Industrial Park (EPIP) at Durgapur and a large number of EOUs have come up in this area such as Stolbourge, Partha Pharma Chem and Allied ICD. Both public and private sector giants are making considerable investments in their existing units. With the ISP IISCO-SAIL SPIL decision to invest Rs 10,000 crore in the next 4-5 years for capacity augmentation, and with DSP, CLW, ASP and DVC also making large investments, nearly Rs 35,000 crore investments by these public sector giants are expected in this areain the next 5-6 years.

With a spurt in industrial activities and improved connectivity with Kolkata, Durgapur is emerging as a major residential hub. ADDA has embarked on housing development and proposes to further develop around 1,500 acres of planned housing in the next few years. The development is taking place both through in-house as well as joint ventures and private-public partnerships.

City Centre Extension Project at Durgapur, Bengal Ambuja Township, Shristi Nagar at Asansol and Kanyapur Satellite Township Project at Asansol are some of the flagship ongoing projects. There are also plans for a North Bidhan Nagar Extension Project and South Asansol Project.

ADDA has successfully implemented the Rs 50-crore City Centre Project at Durgapur, which houses not only quality shopping complexes but also the first four-screen multiplex in Burdwan District. Two more entertainment-cum-commercial hubs are being developed at Asansol and Durgapur, entailing proposed investment of Rs 125 crore.

Recently, Durgapur has also emerged as an ideal educational destination, with six engineering colleges, seven hotel management institutes and several other professional institutes. It is estimated that at any point of time around 35,000 students are studying in this area.

ADDA wants to further promote Durgapur and Asansol as an ideal education hub and is even allotting land at concessional rates. Recently ADDA entered into an agreement with a private entity for the development of a Health City consisting of a medical college, pharma institute, nursing college etc at Durgapur.

Some 100 acres have been allotted and work on the proposed Health & Knowledge City is expected to begin soon.

The first round of development will involve an investment of Rs 300 crore. In addition, a large number of small vocational institutes including a college for law studies, fashion designing and catering colleges are coming up in the Asansol-Durgapur area.

City Development Plan

In a bid to ease the pressure on the urban infrastructure, especially in Asansol and Durgapur towns, a City Development Plan has been drawn up entailing an investment of Rs 1,500 crore in the next few years. Asansol has already been selected as one of the Mission Cities under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) of the Government and the assistance would go towards improvement of water supply, drainage and sewerage networks.

To help decongest the existing towns, efforts are being made to shift all the wholesale businesses outside city limits, close to the main highway. There are also plans to developalternative centres of growth. Efforts are on to construct a major bypass road for Asansol Town as well as development of a Ring Road system at Durgapur.

According to top brass ADDA, the "Rurh Valley of Bengal" is ready to roar again, as investments are pouring in, private initiatives are at high peak and Stat Government is playing its role proactively.

It is hoped that the entire area of ADDA will become an ideal destination for investment and for a quality urban life in the next few years.

It is, however, necessary that all-out guided efforts are made, channelling all energies in the right direction to make this come true.

Our Correspondent

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