Delhi: Metro to run between IGI, Baprola SEZ

New Delhi, Apr 25: Delhi Metro Rail Corporation(DMRC) will soon connect the gem and jewellery special economic zone (SEZ) at Baprola in northwest Delhi with the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport.

''To make commuting of the overseas manufacturers between the SEZ and the airport hassle-free, we are mulling to connect these two places with Metro,'' said DSIIDC Executive Director Rita Kumar.

On the sidelines of a function the National Institute of Jewellery Design and Technology (NIJDT) Chairman and Managing Director Manoj Parida said, the proposed one-thousand-crore project liklely to come up in a year and half, would be the first of its kind in the national Capital and second in the nation after Surat and Kolkata. Similar project in Chennai is in the pipeline.

The SEZ, for gems and jewellery and gems accessories, would be a world class business hub, the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) Executive Director added.

Global mega brands like Donna Karan and Gucci in India will help in exploiting domestic strengths and manufacture at low cost.

''Indians would have to no longer visit Dubai and Malaysia to shop for jewellery,'' she said.

The project will also help in gaining control of markets in Sri Lanka and Burma. Delhi would be visited by Sri Lankans for its state-of-the-art jewellery designs.

The mega project will help setting up a global business hub, involving both national and international players, to promote exports of gems and jewellery from Delhi.

For the convenience of the foreign tourists the economic zone will also have hotels, Ms Kumar said, adding that the SEZ will also have a convention and a packaging centre.

The SEZ would include a gem testing lab, assaying and hallmarking centre, marketing space for designers and a business centres.

UNI