SME Times News Bureau | 15 Feb, 2012
Japan is more keen on building an industrial corridor and the high-speed rail freight corridor between Chennai and Bangalore than the bullet train project, said an official of Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro).
"Japan is more interested in building the Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor and Bangalore-Chennai Ennore Port high speed freight rail projects as it would help the industries located in both the states in moving the goods faster," Jetro Director General Shinya Fujii told reporters here Tuesday.
"The governments of the two states are interested in the bullet train project. Feasibility studies for all the three projects will be taken up in April this year," he added.
He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a seminar Innovative Technologies in Environment and Clean Energy' organised jointly by Jetro and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
The Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor project envisages building six lane roads, industrial estates along the route.
Meanwhile, a nine-company trade delegation from Japan has come here to explore business partnerships with Indian companies in the field of renewable energy and environment.
The delegation includes officials from Japanese companies like Kubota Corporation, Nippon Steel Engineering, Sasakura Engineering, Japan Research Institute and others.
Speaking at the seminar Sudeep Jain, chairman and managing director of Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (TEDA), said the state is focusing in a major way on renewable energy like wind, solar, bio-mass and others.
"The government will come out with a new policy on renewable energy soon. In the next five years 6,000 MW of fresh wind power capacity would be added in the state," Jain said.
According to him, the state plans to add 3,000 MW of solar power generation by 2015-16.
"The government has called tenders for roof top solar lighting systems for 60,000 units and 100,000 units of solar power street lights," he said.
On the bio-mass side, the state plans to add 1,000 MW capacity over the next five years while the current installed capacity is around 635 MW.
