Kolkata: State Finance and Industry minister Amit Mitra said on Saturday that the World Bank has submitted a conceptual master plan for development of logistics infrastructure in and around Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA). The project, which entails an investment of Rs 2,100 crore, is expected to give a big boost to the logistics infrastructure in the state. The state government is scheduled to hold a meeting next week with the top brass of World Bank for finalising the matter. According to Mitra, the World Bank is also undertaking a review of industrial infrastructure (industrial parks, industrial estates, special economic zone, etc.) on the eastern corridor in the South Asian region encompassing West Bengal along with other states, namely Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Assam, aiming at enhancing logistics competitiveness, employment generation, ease of doing business and investment opportunities. "This is a new strategy adopted by World Bank. Instead of going for projects, they are looking at a few states and West Bengal is number one on that list. The master plan deals with development of multimodal logistics with Bengal being the focus area," Mitra said on the sidelines of the 12th Logistics Colloquium organised by CII. He maintained that the states expenditure on infrastructure has gone up five times from Rs 1,758 crore in 2011 to Rs 9,553 crore in 2018. "This has contributed to the state having a GDP growth of 12.58 percent in 2018-19, against the national growth of around 5.5 percent," he added. Mitra said that the state government is eyeing an investment of Rs 10,500 crore in the logistics sector, which has the potential to generate employment of 1.26 lakh people in the days to come. The investment is expected to benefit the five logistics parks coming up at Dankuni, Durgapur, Tajpur, Malda and Siliguri. He reiterated that the state government had already given 2,600 acres of land at Raghunathpur in Purulia for the Amritsar-Kolkata industrial corridor, which would generate huge employment opportunities. The corridor, comprising Dankuni, Haldia, Kharagpur, Kalyani and Durgapur, is expected to have an investment of Rs 43,000 crore in eight specific areas that have already been identified by the state.

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