The Rs 46,000-crore Nagpur-Mumbai Prosperity Corridor, which covers 710 kms through ten districts and promises two million jobs will take Maharashtra 20 years ahead of other states in India, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Friday. The three objectives of the project are to cut down distance between Nagpur and Mumbai, usher in an agro-economic sustainable development model and arrest migration from rural areas to cities within Maharashtra, a government source said. Setting an ambitious target, the government has ordered the project work to commence from October 31 and be completed by 2019. The groundwork related to negotiations for acquiring 20,820 hectares of land required for the project has evoked a good response from villagers, sources in the government said. Only eight per cent of the total land required comes in the irrigated land category and hence the process of acquiring barren land should not pose a problem, a government source said. Moreover, land pooling would not only provide the farmers developed plots, but also assure income for the next ten years, the source added. The decision to adopt the land pooling model is based on the Amaravati pattern, which has greatly helped in tiding over teething problems related to land acquisition, the source said. Another classic example, he said, is of Buldhana, where 14,00 hectares have already been acquired due to a positive response from the farmers. But there are three to four districts where the land pooling model has not brought the desired results, he acknowledged. The Nagpur-Mumbai Prosperity Corridor comprises a road stretch dotted with 24 townships which would navigate through 354 villages across ten districts. Another ten districts would reap benefits from the corridor through investments, with 60 per cent accounting for agro-industrial growth. At the outset, the foremost challenge for the state government is to expedite the process of land acquisition by dispelling the apprehensions of financial returns to farmers and land holders, another government source said. To that end, he said, the chief minister believes the land pooling model brings partnership with farmers/land holders and promises them many-fold financial returns, as they get a developed plot of land in the vicinity. The land pooling model ensures there is no coercion and enables sustainable income to farmers complete with assured livelihood. Of the total Rs 46,000 crore cost of the project, Rs 13,000 crore will be for land acquisition, Rs 24,000 crore would be for civil construction, Rs 2,500 crore for development of nodes, Rs 6,000 crore for courting financial challenges and Rs 500 crore for utility. Almost Rs 35,000 crore would be raised through commercial borrowing from various international and domestic institutions to take the project ahead. The government has already received a list of proposals from various institutions, including Asia Development Bank ,expressing their readiness to partner in the project, the government source said. The eight-lane Nagpur-Mumbai Prosperity Corridor will bring the travel time between the two cities from 16 hours to six hours. It also promises to open new avenues of growth models along the drought-hit districts of Vidarbha and Marathwada, the official said. Interestingly, the corridor will criss-cross all the five regions that make up Maharashtra — Vidarbha, North Maharashtra, Marathwada, Western Maharashtra and Konkan.
