CHENNAI: With project viability and land acquisition issues causing hurdles in developing the State’s three major industrial corridors, the Tamil Nadu government is using its own funds to implement projects.
The corridors are the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC), Chennai-Kanniyakumari Industrial Corridor (CKIC), and the Industrial Manufacturing Cluster (IMC) in Dharmapuri under Kochi-Coimbatore-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor.
A master plan has been prepared for the Madurai-Dindigul-Virudhunagar-Theni and Thoothukudi-Tirunelveli projects under Phase-I of CKIC and the financing agency, Asian Development Bank (ADB), has so far released over Rs 11,000 crore for the projects. The amount, however, is for road and power infrastructure, not for area development, said an official from the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (Tidco).
As it has acquired part of the land, the State government, rather than waiting for funds, began establishing industrial parks using its own funds. The result is the country’s first large-scale furniture manufacturing park established by Sipcot on 1,152 acres in its Thoothukudi industrial park at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore.
This park aims to set up export-oriented furniture manufacturing units, which would attract foreign investments of about Rs 4,500 crore and generate direct and indirect employment for 3.50 lakh people, the official said. "We had the land and the demand. So, when ADB funds were getting delayed, Sipcot was asked to develop the corridor with its funds." The official said there are, however, issues with land acquisition in some places.
Meanwhile, the CBIC is being developed by Tidco and the National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT). The plan is to turn the Ponneri Industrial Node in Tiruvallur district into a self-sustained industrial township with world-class infrastructure; a logistics hub; road and rail connectivity for freight movement; and reliable power and social infrastructure. The project, however, was hit by land acquisition issues. "A master plan is yet to be prepared," the Tidco official said.
On the plan to develop an IMC on around 1,700 acres in Dharmapuri with best-in-class manufacturing infrastructure in the Kochi-Coimbatore-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor, the official said a preliminary master plan was hammered out but nothing happened beyond that.
"It was proposed under Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (MITRA) scheme. But since NICDIT said that it's not viable, we are looking at alternative mechanisms," the official said. It's learnt that Sipcot is developing the Dharmapuri cluster and land has been allocated "We are developing it through the funds from State," the official said.
Factfile
1. Funded by ADB, the first phase of CKIC, which will have Madurai-Virudhnagar-Dindigul-Theni and Thoothkudi-Tirunelveli nodes, would require an investment of nearly Rs 91,000 crore. ADB has released Rs 11,000 crore but further funds are awaited. Now Sipcot is developing industrial parks where land has been acquired.
2. Tidco and NICDIT have joined hands to develop the Ponneri Node of CBIC and an agreement were signed in February 2020. Work on the master plan is yet to be started due to land acquisition issues.
3. The plan to develop 1,700 acres in Dharmapuri into an IMC in the Kochi-Coimbatore-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor region was proposed under the MITRA scheme. Now, the project is being developed by Sipcot.