The ambitious Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor, to be established with Japan's help, will require an investment of an estimated $50 billion and work on the project will begin from January next year.

"The project would be launched in January 2008 after finalisation of detailed project report by end of December this year. It will be completed in next seven years and entail an overall investment of 45-50 billion dollars," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said in New Delhi.

The project would come up on a 300 kilometre area along the proposed Delhi-Mumbai dedicated freight corridor, he said at a Confederation of Indian Industry meeting with Japanese Trade Minister Akira Amari.

The project is planned on the lines of Tokyo-Osaka industrial corridor. Japan was roped in as a partner during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Tokyo in December last year.

The industrial corridor will have a 4,000 MW power plant, three ports and six airports apart from connectivity with existing seaports, Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Ajay Dua said.

He said the project would be funded through private-public partnership and foreign investment. Apart from giving a grant, Japan would also invest in the project.

The 1,483 kilometre corridor will stretch across six states - Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra - who would be made stakeholders, Dua said.

A project will be implemented by Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation, which will float Special Purpose Vehicles to implement the projects.