Kerala to launch developmental projects worth Rs 25,000 cr in a year

Giving a big thrust to industrial development in Kerala amid the Covid-19 pandemic, projects worth Rs 25,000 crore are set to be initiated in the state within a year.

They include the 54 decided upon at ASCEND Kerala 2020, a global investors meet, an official press release said here on Thursday.

Seven of the projects have already gone on stream.

Another 16 with a total investment of Rs 703 crore would be completed in three months and 15 ventures having an investment of Rs 700 crore in six months, Minister for Industries E P Jayarajan said.

In addition, 23 ventures at an investment of Rs 5,456.48 crore would be on track in a year, he said in the statement from the Kerala Bureau of Industrial Promotion.

The projects that have commenced operation were Sharp Plywoods (Rs 8 crore), Agro Park (Rs2 crore), Galaxy Aluminium Industries Pvt Ltd, (Rs 4.5 crore) and Jaiza Pigment (Rs 24 lakh) in Ernakulam district; Sayas Kitchen, Harippad, Alappuzha (Rs 65 lakh); and Navya Bakes and Restaurants (Rs 16 crore) and S P Biocompost and Diesel(Rs 65 lakh) inThrissur.

ASCEND Kerala 2020 was organised in Kochi by the Department of Industries on January 9 and 10.

The meet saw participation of top industrialists and entrepreneurs from diverse sectors from the country and abroad.

 

It was conducted in collaboration with the Directorate of Industries Commerce (DIC), Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC), KINFRA, and Kerala Bureau of Industrial Promotion (KBIP).

The conclave yielded MoUs and LOIs to the tune of over Rs 1 trillion.

The MoUs/LoIs covered areas such as infrastructure, life science-related ventures, mobility, tourism and healthcare.

Over 100 projects covering multiple sectors, including petrochemicals, agro and food processing, defence, airports, tourism, ports, fisheries, logistics and electronics were showcased at the meet.

"ASCEND 2020 was a big success as the conclave had been able to convince entrepreneurs of the excellent investment climate prevailing in Kerala," said Principal Secretary, Industries, Dr K Ellangovan.

Taking forward the momentum generated by ASCEND 2020, a special team of nodal officers from KINFRA, KSIDC and DIC was constituted to follow up on the proposals and assist the entrepreneurs.

So far, the team has held five meetings to review the status of the projects.

Providing financial assistance to the tune of Rs 1,209 crore to 11 projects is under consideration of KSIDC, the statement said.

The agency has either sanctioned loans or is in the advanced processing stage of extending financial assistance to some of these projects.

KINFRA has signed MoUs for land to implement 11 projects worth Rs 1,715 crore.

Of these, the land allotment process is in the advanced stages for seven projects and the remaining ones are in various stages of processing, it said.

Semi-high speed rail corridor SilverLine, Sabarimala airport, Kannur aerotropolis, multi-modal logistics park, electronic hardware park and integrated manufacturing cluster are some of the big projects.