Mumbai, Aug 28 (IANS): The Maharashtra government’s ongoing infrastructure development plan received a major boost after the Union Cabinet’s approval for the development of the Dighi Port Industrial Area in the coastal Raigad district as the industrial smart city.

The proposed city will be 55 km east of Dighi port spread over 6,056 acre costing Rs 5,469 crore. The project has the potential to attract investment worth Rs 38,000 crore with the creation of 1,09,185 jobs.

A senior industry department officer said: “The Centre’s move to include the Dighi Port Industrial Area comes at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay a foundation stone for the RS 76,000 crore Vadhavan port in the Palghar district. The development of the Dighi Port Industrial Area as a smart city and the Vadhavan port is expected to promote the development of varied sectors and thereby help increase the state’s growth.”

He added that this will also help Maharashtra to achieve its ambitious target of a $1 trillion economy.

The focused sectors in Dighi will be engineering, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, textiles and food and beverages.

According to the Centre, Dighi Industrial smart city development will further boost port-led industrialisation and being planned as a port city it will leverage the upcoming Dighi port.

This is expected to decongest the Mumbai Metropolitan Area with connectivity to both Mumbai and Pune besides its development will lead to the promotion of eco and heritage tourism.

As far as the connectivity to the proposed Dighi industrial smart city is concerned, there are NH753F Mangaon-Pune and NH66 Mumbai Goa national highways in addition to state highway 97. The railway connectivity is with Kolad, Indapur and Mangaon.

In addition, it will be connected with Mumbai Airport, Pune Airport and the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport.

Further, the Multi-Modal Logistic Park is also proposed to be developed at Dighi with a focus on optimising the efficiency of freight and passenger movement.

This will also help to reduce the logistic cost to about 9 per cent from the present 14-16 per cent.