$631 million loan for Vizag-Chennai industrial corridor approved by ADB

Multilateral funding agency Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $631 million loan for building India’s first coastal industrial corridor between Visakhapatnam (Vizag) and Chennai. 
•    The fund will help develop the first key 800-km section of the planned 2,500-km East Coast Economic Corridor. 
•    The coastal industrial corridor is expected to boost development on eastern coast of India and enable seamless trade links with other parts of Southeast and South Asia. 
•    The total cost of the project is 846 million dollars and work on it is expected to be over by 2031. 
•    The remaining 215 million dollars will be funded by Andhra Pradesh government. 
•    The new infrastructure will be built in the four main centres — Visakhapatnam, Amaravati, Kakinada and Yerpedu-Srikalahasti — along the corridor. 
•    It will include 138 km of state highways and roads, 10 power substations, 488 km of drinking water pipeline, 47 km of storm drains, water treatment plants, and 281 km of power transmission and distribution lines.