Infrastructure. The word itself is quite heavy, and for the economies developing world, its the most repeated word in their vocabulary. I was thinking about it yesterday while on the train from Mumbai to Surat and back. I started from Mumbai in the morning, reached Surat in about 3 hours, traveled in a car to Hazira, attended meetings and returned to Mumbai on another Rajdhani Express in the evening. My first business trip actually, and I realized a lot of business persons must be doing the same trip quite regularly.
I had first visited Hazira as a part of the induction program at my company. The place is about 30 kilometers from the city of Surat, which in itself is a big commercial hub, particularly known for its textiles and the famous Surat diamond trade. Here is a study in PDF format, done in 2000, about entrepreneurship in the Surat diamond trade. Surat is actually a very capable town, with lots of construction on at all times and in all localities.
Then comes Hazira. I fell in love with Hazira the moment the first sight of the spires of the complexes of Kribhco and NTPC appeared before me. Hazira is a industrial complex that could very well be the poster child of India's growth as an industrial nation. That region, set on the banks of the river Tapti, on the river's mouth as it enters the Arabian Sea, has ports of multiple companies, manufacturing facilities, petrochemical complex, steel mill and allied mills, fertilizer unit, thermal power generation plant, oil facilities, gas facilities and many more! When I was driving by the place, I couldn't believe the mammoth size of the factories and complexes on either side of the road. Truly an industrial behemoth.
Reliance Industries has a huge petrochemicals complex there. Essar's steel mill is located in Hazira and a host of allied mills such as plate mill, pipe mill etc around it. Similarly, Larsen & Toubro's huge manufacturing complex is located on the Tapti banks. In fact, right across the street from there, they built another huge complex in a joint venture with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to manufacture turbines and other stuff. The complex is huge, and functioning. The last time I was there, in August last, they were only beginning to put the structures up, and now in record time, they have got the facility running.
Then of course, Hazira is home to Shell's LNG complex and port, that company's biggest investment in India. In addition, the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) a pipeline running from Hazira to within the country, and is in the process of setting up another pipeline. NTPC has a thermal power plant operating there as well. KRIBHCO, the state run fertilizer manufacturer, has a huge complex there as well.
After having been thoroughly impressed with the might of these industrial complexes, I realized that the highway leading to, say Essar Steel, is still a congested four lane highway, where vehicular traffic jostles with big tractor trailers ferrying equipment, products and such. The road from Surat to Hazira, in many places, is the ubiquitous two lane road where industrial traffic mixes with urban traffic. However, I did come across news that the highways leading to Hazira will be upgraded, which again is good news.
The reason I wanted to write this post in the first place was not really about Hazira, but about the Delhi Mumbai Infrastructure Corridor. On my way back to Mumbai on the train, I came across countless rivers, rivulets and ravines where rail bridges were under construction. I can only assume that they will be for the DMIC, and having 4 tracks instead of 2 tracks between all the important cities in that corridor, including Surat and Ahmedabad, will at once double or triple the cargo and passenger carrying capacity between the routes.
I had first visited Hazira as a part of the induction program at my company. The place is about 30 kilometers from the city of Surat, which in itself is a big commercial hub, particularly known for its textiles and the famous Surat diamond trade. Here is a study in PDF format, done in 2000, about entrepreneurship in the Surat diamond trade. Surat is actually a very capable town, with lots of construction on at all times and in all localities.
Then comes Hazira. I fell in love with Hazira the moment the first sight of the spires of the complexes of Kribhco and NTPC appeared before me. Hazira is a industrial complex that could very well be the poster child of India's growth as an industrial nation. That region, set on the banks of the river Tapti, on the river's mouth as it enters the Arabian Sea, has ports of multiple companies, manufacturing facilities, petrochemical complex, steel mill and allied mills, fertilizer unit, thermal power generation plant, oil facilities, gas facilities and many more! When I was driving by the place, I couldn't believe the mammoth size of the factories and complexes on either side of the road. Truly an industrial behemoth.
Reliance Industries has a huge petrochemicals complex there. Essar's steel mill is located in Hazira and a host of allied mills such as plate mill, pipe mill etc around it. Similarly, Larsen & Toubro's huge manufacturing complex is located on the Tapti banks. In fact, right across the street from there, they built another huge complex in a joint venture with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to manufacture turbines and other stuff. The complex is huge, and functioning. The last time I was there, in August last, they were only beginning to put the structures up, and now in record time, they have got the facility running.
Then of course, Hazira is home to Shell's LNG complex and port, that company's biggest investment in India. In addition, the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) a pipeline running from Hazira to within the country, and is in the process of setting up another pipeline. NTPC has a thermal power plant operating there as well. KRIBHCO, the state run fertilizer manufacturer, has a huge complex there as well.
After having been thoroughly impressed with the might of these industrial complexes, I realized that the highway leading to, say Essar Steel, is still a congested four lane highway, where vehicular traffic jostles with big tractor trailers ferrying equipment, products and such. The road from Surat to Hazira, in many places, is the ubiquitous two lane road where industrial traffic mixes with urban traffic. However, I did come across news that the highways leading to Hazira will be upgraded, which again is good news.
The reason I wanted to write this post in the first place was not really about Hazira, but about the Delhi Mumbai Infrastructure Corridor. On my way back to Mumbai on the train, I came across countless rivers, rivulets and ravines where rail bridges were under construction. I can only assume that they will be for the DMIC, and having 4 tracks instead of 2 tracks between all the important cities in that corridor, including Surat and Ahmedabad, will at once double or triple the cargo and passenger carrying capacity between the routes.
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