Chamber petitions BJP chief on its demands

The local chapter of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has appealed to BJP president Amit Shah to take up with the Centre its wish list for the development of the region, including National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ), flight connectivity, industrial estate for MSME.
In a memorandum submitted to Shah during his visit last week, ICCI President D Nandakumar said Coimbatore should be alloted a NIMZ as it was one of the fastest growing 20 centres of economic activities in the country with over 25,000 registered industries.
The chamber said though the city had direct flights to Singapore and Sharjah, there was no direct connectivity to other Gulf countries and Malaysia.

Foreign airliners like Air Asia and Fly Dubai, though willing, were unable to operate flights since there was no Bilateral Traffic Right (BTR) from the central government, it said, urging Shah to prevail upon the Centre to include Coimbatore in BTR.
Pressing for a new Industrial Estae for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), it said no new industrial estate was set up in the city for the last 20 years.
In order to develop capacity in engineering and machinery infrastructure, the textile Technology Upgradation Fund scheme should be extended to engineering industries also, the memorandum said.