Ludhiana apparel park project finally gets headway

The Punjab Apparel Park, which envisages development of Ludhiana into one of the top rung apparel producing cities in the world, has finally got some headway with most of the infrastructure work in place.

According to officials from the apparel park, with most of the infrastructure in place or nearing completion, three units have already started their construction of their facilities in the park and the one unit has already started production. The estimated investment in these three units is around Rs 50 crore.

Punjab Apparel Park, a joint venture of Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation Ltd (PSIEC) and Apparel Association of Ludhiana (APPEAL), is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) set up to develop the 85- acre apparel park under the Apparel Park Scheme of the Union ministry of textile.

Although the project was earlier slated to be commissioned by March 2009, impediments ensured the project got delayed. However, the officials maintain that with infrastructure in place, the park has finally got headway. Project Coordinator of the park Amit Kumar maintained that 100-odd apparel units had signed agreements to set up their units in the park. Once the units started their operations, the total investment here would be around Rs 300 crore, he said.

Updating on the park’s development, Kumar said plots inside the 85- acre park had been demarcated and the laying of sewerage pipe and water pipe line for the plots had also been marked inside.

Also the laying down of effluent pipes had been completed and tenders had been floated for bitumen work on roads.

The total estimated cost of the Apparel Park is Rs 40 crore and the company has already incurred Rs 30 crore on the project with the rest being funded by the government.