The State Government has sought the Centre’s approval for the Kochi-Palakkad National Investment & Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) - a Rs 53,825-crore mega industrial infrastructure project.
A detailed project report for the NIMZ, prepared by the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC), was sent to the Central Government for approval. It has requested notification of the NIMZ, approval for Master Plan study and Viability Gap Funding for the project.
’The Centre has now asked some more details from the State Government in the prescribed format for giving clearance to the project. This has been prepared and is being submitted to the Centre,’’ said Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty.
A showpiece project of the Emerging Kerala Global Connect event, the NIMZ is to be executed in PPP mode. It is estimated that the scheme will generate direct employment to five lakh people over a period of five years, and indirect employment to 25 lakh people in 10 years, the Minister added.
Managing director of KSIDC Alkesh Sharma said that the state had achieved substantial growth in the service sector in the past several years. The present Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) comprises 66 per cent contribution from the service sector and only 22 per cent from the manufacturing sector.
The capital outlay for NIMZ has been pegged at Rs 53,825 crore while the expected investment inflow is around Rs 1,00,000 crore over a period of 10 years.
There would be six industrial zones, two food & agro processing zones, three engineering & electronics zones, one chemical & petrochemical zone and facility for power generation.
As per the National Manufacturing Policy, a NIMZ must have an area of at least 5,000 hectares. As per the present proposal, 20 industrial nodes will be created in the 5,200 hectares of land. Each node is to be developed as a self-contained industrial township, which will have infrastructure facilities such drainage, water supply, sewage and effluent treatment plants, rainwater harvesting, solid waste management and green buffers.
‘’We have 1,700 hectares of land available with various agencies of the State Government. Another 3,500 hectares will have to be acquired in the four NIMZ districts - Ernakulam, Thrissur, Malappuram and Palakkad - to promote the project,’’ Sharma said. For meeting the power requirement, a gas-based power plant, with an installed capacity of 2,500 MW, would be set up in the NIMZ region to feed electricity for individual nodes, said T P Thomas Kutty, executive director, KSIDC.
A Special Purpose Vehicle, with participation from the State and Central Governments, will be formed to implement the project. A dedicated freight corridor is also envisioned as part of the NIMZ, which will facilitate safe and speedy transportation of goods and raw materials for manufacturing units being set up in the region.
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