The southern districts, often seen as having been left behind in industrial development, will get a series of industrial parks, accommodating units specific to every district. Moreover, a Rs. 1,200-crore paper board factory will be set up in Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s Srirangam constituency and three projects at a cost of Rs. 3,500 crore in Nagapattinam district.
Ms. Jayalalithaa unveiled the projects in the State Assembly on Tuesday.
Leaders of various parties hailed the initiative, saying it would give a big boost to the industry-starved southern districts, especially after the Sethusamudram project failed to materialise. Industrial development has been the recurring theme of judicial commissions that have gone into the causes of communal violence in the southern districts in the past.
In Srirangam, a Multilayer Double Coated Board manufacturing unit would be set up at Montipatti village and the surrounding dry areas covering 989 acres by the Tamil Nadu News Print and Papers Ltd (TNPL). The village is in Manaparai taluk on the Kulithalai-Manaparai National Highway.
The work for the unit with a capacity of two lakh tonnes per year will begin this year and will be completed in 2016. Two thousand people will get direct and indirect employment through the industry.
Ms. Jayalalithaa also announced a deep water port, a floating storage re-gasification unit and a 500-MW gas-based power plant in the southern coast of Nagapattinam district. The total cost for the three projects is Rs. 3,500 crore.
In Sivaganga, an industrial park of 2,000 acres would be set up to accommodate a graphite factory and other industries.
A 2,000-acre industrial park to be set up in Ramanathapuram district will house a petroleum refinery and chemical and fertilizer units.
Pudukottai district will get a 2,000-acre industrial park for engineering industries, metal units and dry skin manufacturing units.
A 1,500-acre industrial park is proposed in Dindigul district for food processing and allied industries. In Theni district, food processing and allied industries would come up on an extent of 2,000 acres.
The industrial park meant for Virudunagar will serve the specific purpose of providing infrastructure to firework units. It will also have food processing, engineering and printing units.
The Chief Minister said a 6,000-acre industrial park would be created in Tuticorin district to attract shipbuilding and repair units, heavy engineering units, metal and chemical industries.
Tirunelveli district will have a Renewable Energy Hub on 1,500 acres for solar power plants, and other parts for renewable energy sector. For the coastal Kanyakumari district, she announced an industrial park on 250 acres to attract marine industries. It will also accommodate rubber industries, engineering industries and tourism projects.
The Chief Minster also announced a series of measures to attract entrepreneurs to set up units in these industrial parks. They will get land at 50 per cent subsidy and the government would reimburse the money to the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu.
