Infrastructure is the lifeline for ensuring industrial growth in a State. Recognising this, the Government has made all efforts to ensure availability of adequate and sound infrastructure in the State. Jharkhand has a well developed network of airways, railways and roadways. Its location close to the ports of Calcutta, Haldia and Paradeep provides an additional advantage to this connectivity. Besides, there exist numerous investment opportunities for further expansion of the infrastructural set up in the State. These include:-
- Construction of new roads and airports; upgradation/expansion of existing roads, highways and airports;
- Development of industrial parks and zones;
- Development of 3-tier growth centres;
- Setting up IT and telecom infrastructure;etc.
Roadways
The total length of roads in the State is 4,311 km, which includes national highways of 1,500 Kms and state highways of 2,711 Kms. The Golden Quadrangular Super Highway also passes through the State. In order to further develop an efficient road-network, the Government of the State aims to encourage private participation for building and maintenance of roads and bridges; for providing expressways along the main high-density corridors across the State; and for management of inter-state and intra-state bus terminus. Accordingly, several ambitious projects are being undertaken by the Government.
Railways
The state has an extensive and well-developed rail-network, providing vital links to the important cities and ports of the country. It has efficient goods handling facilities at Ranchi, Bokaro, Dhanbad and Jamshedpur. In addition, ore loading facilities are available at Kiriburu, Lohardaga and at all the coal mines.
Aviation
The State has a good air linkage with the rest of the country. Ranchi, the State capital is connected with Delhi, Patna, Mumbai by regular air services. Major towns in the State, such as, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Giridih, Deoghar, Hazaribagh, Daltonganj, Noamundi have air strips. The State Government is taking several measures for improving the aviation sector in the State. These include upgradation of Ranchi airport as an international airport; strengthening and improving the air strips along with proper fencing; etc. It is also taking steps for setting up an air cargo complex at Ranchi.
Power
The installed capacity of power in Jharkhand is 2,590 MW. This includes 420 MW (Tenughat Thermal Power Station), 840 MW (Patratu Thermal Power Station), 130 MW (Sikkidiri Hydel Project) and 1,200 MW (Damodar Valley Corporation Thermal/Hydel Project). There exist immense potential for setting up of thermal, hydel, geothermal atomic, methane and gas based power plants in the State. The Jharkhand Government aims to provide the industrial units with an uninterrupted power of high quality and right quantity at economical cost. To fulfill these, it has taken several measures, the most important being, privatisation of the power generation and distribution network in the State. It is also encouraging investment for exploitation of non-conventional sources of power, such as geothermal energy, biomass, solar energy, wind energy, etc.
Telecommunication
The Government has been taking several steps for upgrading the telecom facilities in the State. A separate telecommunication circle for Jharkhand has been set up for taking care of the requirements of the sector. All district headquarters in the State are connected to the main network by reliable media. The Ranchi internet node has been upgraded to "A" category. Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) media connectivity and local dialing facility to access internet is also available in all the district headquarters. The Government acknowledges the need to attract private investment in this sector for speeding up the process of linking the rural areas with the business centres in the State as well as for upgrading the existing telecom system to match the international standards.
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