KOCHI: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will lay the foundation stone for the Petrochemical Park project here on Tuesday. Industries Minister E P Jayarajan will preside over the function.Being implemented by KINFRA (Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation), the project aims to develop a cluster of MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) that use the propylene derivative by-products of the BPCL-Kochi refinery as the raw material to manufacture consumer products.
The project will come up on 481.79 acres of land taken over by the government from FACT. Of the total land, the government has leased out 171 acres to BPCL. The park will have 229 acres which will be allotted to firms that come forward to set up shop. Around 33 per cent of the land will be maintained as green belt. KINFRA will provide water, power, waste treatment plant, GAIL piped natural gas and other basic amenities.
The facilities will be set up at a cost of `300 crore within 30 months. The government is hopeful of attracting companies that produce paint, dyes, textile finishing products and other consumer products from petrochemical raw materials.
The tendering process for the development of basic infrastructure is in final stages. KINFRA has received 17 applications for establishment of industries in the park. The applications have been sent to the district monitoring committee. The park is expected to provide direct employment to 10,000 people.
Other programmes
Besides the Petrochemical Park, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the power transformer plant and electric vehicle charging station of Kerala Electrical and Allied Engineering Ltd (KEL) at KEL Mamala unit at 11.30pm. Ministers E P Jayarajan and M M Mani will attend. Pinarayi will also open the Khadi Fashion Centre at Kaloor at 2.30pm.