Shabad mandal on the outskirts of Hyderabad may play host to the largest industrial park of Telangana, a 3,600-acre facility, if the farmers and locals extend support, Industries and IT Minister K. T. Rama Rao said on Saturday.
Hayathabad, Chandanvelly and Sitarampur are the three villages, in the mandal in Rangareddy district, across which the industrial park will be spread. It will be an extension of the 1,600-acre industrial park that is taking shape in Chandanvelly, he said, assuring that the government would work towards generating employment opportunities for local youth in the facility. Regional empowerment and local employment were key to growth, he added.
Mr. Rao, speaking at the inauguration of a flooring plant of the $2.7 billion Welspun Group, said when the industrial park was proposed in the area about two and a half years ago there were no industries. Elected representatives impressed farmers on the need to give up their lands for larger good.
The setting up of Welspun plant, on which over ₹1,100-crore investment was made and an additional ₹500 crore was on the cards, was just the beginning of industrial development of the area, which is about 28 km from the airport. As a step to ensure that the sacrifice of farmers did not go waste, the government had decided to set up a large skill development centre in the area to train youth and enable them to get jobs in the industrial units.
The Minister also laid the foundation for Welspun’s Advanced Textiles facility that would entail ₹400-crore investment, in the presence of the group’s chairman B. K. Goenka and several elected representatives, including Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy, MLC Patnam Mahender Reddy and MLA Yadaiah Kale.
Besides Welspun, which was the anchor client in Chandanvelly Park and would invest a total of ₹2,000 crore by 2021, four entities were setting up projects there. The list included Kundan Group and Kataria Group. Discussions were in an advanced stage with a few more. A company had also sought space to establish an electric vehicle manufacturing plant there.
Mr. Rao said infrastructure in the area would be bolstered with development of a four-lane road from Chandanvelly to Shamshabad via Hayathabad at a cost of ₹220 crore, augmentation of piped water supply and setting up of a substation.
Welspun coming to Hyderabad was no small achievement as the group had made Gujarat its home, the IT Minister said, adding that its decision was bound to enthuse many companies in India and abroad to look at Telangana.
Mr. Goenka said “we have moved [the] investment from Gujarat to Telangana. Whatever was promised [by Telangana government] was delivered.” Noting that 600 acres were to be developed by Welspun, he said the flooring plant was a state-of-the-art facility. Over time, the group would employ 2,500 people directly and create jobs for 5,000 indirectly.
Welspun Flooring’s manufacturing facility is spread across 200 acres and employs close to 1,600 members. It is equipped to manufacture a range of innovative products from Carpet Tiles, Greens (artificial grass) and Broadloom Carpets (wall to wall carpet) to the patented and technologically advanced product – the Click-N-Lock tiles. Post completion of all phases, it will have a production capacity of 40 million square metres annually.
President and CEO- International Business of Welspun Flooring Mukesh Savlani said the facility would cater to domestic and export markets.
