Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Friday said that the United Democratic Front (UDF) government was promoting investment projects cleared by the previous Left Democratic Front government because it firmly believed that the development process should continue despite change in ruling coalitions.
The projects
In his reply to Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan’s letter, seeking clarifications to three projects posed for the Emerging Kerala investor meet, Mr. Chandy said that he firmly believed that the LDF government had taken decisions on some of these projects to expedite Kerala’s development process.
Mr. Achuthanandan had written to Mr. Chandy seeking clarifications on the Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR), Kochi-Coimbatore-Kasaragod industrial corridor, and the Kochi Electronics Park. Mr. Chandy, in his letter to Mr. Achuthanandan, released here for publication, said that the three projects had been launched by the previous LDF government.
It was unfortunate that the Leader of the Opposition was concealing the fact that the decisions were taken by his government, he said.
Mr. Chandy said that the proposal for a petrochemical industrial park was first made in the budget speech presented on February 20, 2009 (Page 20). Following this, the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) was asked to prepare a project report, which it did.
In the case of the Kochi-Coimbatore-Kasaragod industrial corridor, the government issued orders appointing KSIDC as the nodal agency on April 19, 2010. For detailed studies, INKEL was allotted Rs.3 crore. Mahindra Consulting Engineers was entrusted with the task of preparing the project report. In the meantime, the Centre announced the National Manufacturing Policy. In view of this, the State government amended its proposal and presented to the Centre a new Kochi-Palakkad investment and manufacturing zone on June 16, 2012.
With regard to the Amballoor Electronics Park, the KSIDC had sought the government’s permission on June 20, 2007, and October 5, 2010.
Earlier, the Electronics Park found a reference in the Budget speech presented on February 20, 2009. The KSIDC submitted its recommendations for setting up the park spread over 334 acres on January 5, 2010.
The Cabinet of July 7, 2010, gave sanction to the KSIDC for the park.
Two days later, the government issued orders (GO No: 988/2010/ID).
Mr. Chandy told Mr. Achuthanandan that the government was not averse to providing documents on all three projects. The details of all the three projects had been published on the Emerging Kerala website, he said.