Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project  The Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project (DMIC) is a planned industrial development project between India's capital, Delhi and its financial hub, Mumbai. The DMIC project was launched in pursuance of an MOU signed between the Government of India and the Government of Japan in December 2006. It is one of the world's largest infrastructure projects with an estimated investment of and is planned as a high-tech industrial zone spread across six states, as well as Delhi, the national capital and itself a Union Territory. The investments will be spread across the 1,500 km long Western Dedicated Freight Corridor which will serve as the industrial corridor's transportation backbone. It includes 24 industrial regions, eight smart cities, two international airports, five power projects, two mass rapid transit systems, and two logistical hubs. The eight investment regions proposed to be developed in Phase I of DMIC are Dadri - Noida - Ghaziabad (in Uttar Pradesh), Manesar - Bawal (in Haryana), Khushkhera - Bhiwadi - Neemrana and Jodhpur - Pali - Marwar (in Rajasthan), Pithampur - Dhar - Mhow (in Madhya Pradesh), Ahmedabad - Dholera Special Investment Region (in Gujarat), and Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC) and Dighi Port Industrial Area in Maharashtra. The project has received a major boost from India and Japan, due to an agreement to set up a project development fund with an initial size of . The Japanese and Indian governments are likely to contribute equally. The work is progressing at a rapid pace, with the dedicated freight corridor expected to be completed by 2021. The genesis of the project goes back to China's preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which triggered a diversion of India's iron ore exports from Japan to China, in order to feed the increased infrastructure requirements for the then upcoming games. Japan, which was importing large quantities of iron ore from India, was negatively affected as it had to maintain a reliable source of iron ore imports to feed its long-established industrial sector. Efforts to procure ore from alternate sources in India were logistically difficult and not cost effective. This inspired the then Japanese Ambassador to India, to raise the idea of building an efficient freight corridor along the lines of the Tokyo – Osaka corridor (Taiheiyō Belt). Project initially aims for US$100 billion direct investment in this scheme, excluding investment in other associated schemes.