Japan-funded JV to build township near Chennai

Japanese foreign direct investment is set to flow more freely into Tamil Nadu with the signing of a memorandum of understanding for building a 1,500 acre integrated township near Chennai.

The township will be built by a consortium led by Singapore-based real estate developer Ascendas along with Japanese companies at an estimated cost of Rs3,500 crore. The funding will be mostly from Japan.

State chief minister J Jayalalithaa and visiting Japanese minister of economy, trade and industry Yukio Edano oversaw the signing of the agreement between the Tamil Nadu industrial investment facilitating agency the Guidance Bureau, the Ascendas Development Trust (AIDT), and a Japan consortium comprising Mizuho Corporate Bank and JGC Corp, a programme management contractor and investment partner.

Addressing the Japanese delegation led by the trade minister, Jayalalithaa said Tamil Nadu would soon come out with a new industrial policy ''which will not only be investor-friendly but also aimed at achieving balanced and sustainable growth''.

The township, to be built over five years, will have manufacturing, commercial, residential, institutional and social facilities. According to state government projections, it could attract investments of over Rs15,000 crore and generate 40,000 jobs.

Over a third of Japanese investments into India are in Tamil Nadu, where 286 major Japanese companies have established a base.