Friday, March 24 2006 17:56 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Amritsar: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (Mar 24 2006) launched real estate developer DLF Universal's Special Economic Zone project here, as part of initiatives to revive the state's industrial sector.

"I am happy that the state government has finalised the development of a Special Economic Zone in Amritsar. This city and its neighbourhood had a great industrial past. We need to revive it and the SEZ is one such step," he said after DLF and Punjab government signed an MoU for the project.

"DLF will invest Rs 1,000 crore towards the development of this project. It will also catalyse an investment of about Rs 5,000 crore in industry, urban development and associated infrastructure, besides creating more than 25,000," DLF Vice-chairman Rajiv Singh said.

He said this investment was in line with the company's expansion plans and formed part of its strategy to invest Rs 10,000 crore for developing industrial and urban infrastructure in Punjab.

The project will include four sector-specific individual SEZs for textile and garments, engineering, food processing industry and a free trade and warehousing zone.

The project was one of over 140 SEZs that were cleared by the Board of Approval in the Union Commerce Ministry on March 17. The BoA had also given in-principle clearance to DLF's SEZs in Ludhiana.