Logistics services company DP World will invest around Rs 2,000 crore in Tamil Nadu for installing a new container terminal, cold storage and seafood processing zone, etc. The other projects lined up involve a free trade zone with an integrated rail siding, a minor port in the Eastern Coast of Tamil Nadu and inland container depots in Karur, Tirupur, and Erode. A government official told the media that these projects might generate jobs for 4,500 people (1,500 direct and 3,000 indirect). The firm has inked a memorandum of understanding with the state government asking for facilitation support needed for the projects. DP World is the world’s leading port/terminal operator since its inception in 1972 and presently works at 150 places the world over in ports, terminals, industrial parks, logistics and economic zones, maritime services and marinas. In 1997, it entered India and began its container terminal in Mumbai, and in 2001 it laid its footprint in Tamil Nadu. With an investment of over $1.2 Billion, they are running six terminals in India at major ports with more than 6 million TEU of gross capacity. Chennai Container Terminal (CCTL), with four berths to manage 1 million TEU containers inside Chennai Port, was built by DP world and started operation in 2001. Additionally, DP World installed container cold storage (winter logistics), freight stations (CFS), and third-party logistics warehousing in Tamil Nadu. In September 2019, DP World inked an MoU in UAE with the Government of Tamil Nadu to invest Rs 1000 crore in establishing a free trade warehousing zone (FTWZ) and subsequently, Integrated Chennai Business Park (ICBP) in Vallur, Ponneri Taluk, Tiruvallur District was installed over an area of 125 acres. This FTWZ was inaugurated in July 2021. On Saturday, Chief Minister M K Stalin, Tamil Nadu, laid the foundation stone for the planned data centre to be installed by Japanese technology major NTT Global Data Centres and Cloud Infrastructure at an investment of Rs 2,500 crore. The data centre at Ambattur will be spread across 8.25 lakh sq ft. Image Source