Kolkata: Senior officials of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) met state officials at Nabanna on Tuesday to discuss possible support for Bengal’s industrialisation and infrastructure agenda, a day after the state govt presented its first budget.The meeting, attended by CM Suvendu Adhikari’s adviser Subrata Gupta, focused on developing industry-supporting infrastructure, including city economic regions (CERs), industrial corridors, logistics hubs, worker housing and urban transport.“Issues such as the creation of city economic regions, industrial corridors, logistics hubs, tourism clusters, and rental housing for workers near their workplaces were discussed,” a senior state govt official said.Officials said ADB proposed at least two CERs in Bengal, with potential hubs around Kolkata, Siliguri, Haldia-Digha and Durgapur-Asansol. Discussions also covered industrial corridors linking Kolkata, Dankuni, Durgapur, Asansol, Haldia and Kharagpur.ADB suggested logistics hubs at Dankuni, Siliguri and Haldia, modernisation of urban transport, tourism circuits and water supply projects in north Bengal. No discussions were held on the size of any potential financial assistance.
