NEW DELHI, April 14: India will build an industrial corridor between Delhi and Mumbai at a cost of $50 billion with Japanese assistance, India's trade minister, Kamal Nath, said on Saturday.

Top officials of India and Japan are drafting the north-west corridor project on the lines of Tokyo-Osaka industrial corridor, so that work can start from January 2008.

The overall investment (for the Delhi-Mumbai corridor) could be about $50 billion, Nath told reporters after a meeting with his Japanese counterpart Akira Amari.

The project will include a high speed rail freight corridor, additional power of 4,000 megawatt, three new sea ports and six airports, he said.

India also plans to upgrade existing industrial units, build 12 new industrial clusters, 10 logistic parks and agricultural hubs alongside the industrial corridor.

Initially, the project would require $2 billion investment from both government and private firms, Nath said.

India needs $320 billion to improve creaky infrastructure, which is key to sustain 8-10 percent economic growth in the next five years.

Nath said India is expected to attract $25 billion in foreign direct investment in the year to March 2008, which would be much higher than $15 billion of 2006/07, he added.—Reuters