Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched real estate developer DLF Universal's Special Economic Zone project in New Delhi as part of initiatives to revive the state's industrial sector.

"I am happy that the state government has finalised the development of a Special Economic Zone in Amritsar. This city and its neighbourhood had a great industrial past. We need to revive it and the SEZ is one such step," he said after DLF and Punjab government signed a memorandum of understanding for the project.

"DLF will invest Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) towards the development of this project. It will also catalyse an investment of about Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) in industry, urban development and associated infrastructure, besides creating more than Rs 25,000," DLF Vice-chairman Rajiv Singh said.

 He said this investment was in line with the company's expansion plans and formed part of its strategy to invest Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) for developing industrial and urban infrastructure in Punjab.

The project will include four sector-specific individual SEZs for textile and garments, engineering, food processing industry and a free trade and warehousing zone.

The project was one of over 140 SEZs that were cleared by the Board of Approval in the Union Commerce Ministry on March 17. The BoA had also given in-principle clearance to DLF's SEZs in Ludhiana.

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