KOLKATA: Howrah town is set to get a fillip from Yokohama to regain its status as Sheffield of the east. The Japanese city will fund an industrial revival project that will create 1.5 lakh new jobs for Howrah residents.

The ailing forging industries and rolling mills of Howrah will be revived with Yokohama Municipality providing a Rs 590crore grant for upgrading infrastructure and technology. In the first phase of the project, 15,000 medium and small industries of Howrah are scheduled to be revived.

The grant will also be used for upgrading water treatment plants and starting a joint venture water transport service.

Howrah mayor Rathin Chakraborty told TOI on Wednesday that a team comprising representatives of the Yokohama mayor will be visiting Kolkata on November 2-3. After a meeting at Nabanna on Monday, the delegates will meet him and his officials the next day "The discussion will centre around a project for an industrial revival of Howrah. The emphasis will be on getting the wheels of the once flourishing micro, small and medium industries turning once again. A detailed project report will be prepared after the team leaves. This has been made possible at the initiative of Mamata Banerjee," the mayor said.

HMC commissioner Nilanjan Chatterjee said the delegation plans to visit areas of Howrah town where sick industrial units are located. The state medium and small industries department is coordinating the project, Chatterjee said.

The mayor also said, "Howrah was once an industrially developed city. Over time, the rolling mills, forging and welding units could not keep pace with technological advancement. With decline in quality, these industries lost markets and turned sick. Many shut down. Howrah's industrial strength has been eroded with neglect during Left rule."

Chakraborty said, "An HMC team visited Japan and held discussions on the industrial revival project. The Yokohama Municipality wants to infuse modern Japanese technology to revive Howrah's MSME industries. They are impressed with the cheap skilled labour available here. The project will also involve setting up facilities for training our workers." The Japanese will also create the support systems for marketing the output from the revived industries. The officials had also wanted to know whether it was possible to introduce a monorail project in Howrah and we are exploring that aspect."

Besides small and medium manufacturing units, the project will provide assistance for promotion of water transport in Howrah. The grant will also help upgrade the Serampore water treatment plant and set up a 100mgd water treatment plant at Ghusuri. Beautification of the riverfront between Botanic Garden and Belur is also on the cards.