Hopes of the Amballoor electronic hardware park getting a boost in the budget received a jolt, as there was no specific allocation for speeding up the much-delayed project.
Except for a mention that the construction of the park would be intensified, there were no details on sanctioning funds for land acquisition. “The project had hit a roadblock after the land acquisition process got delayed indefinitely. The authorities could acquire land belonging to a few persons only,” said Manoj Kumar P.K., former vice president, Amballoor grama panchayat.
Senior officials of the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (nodal agency) said it had purchased nearly 12 acres of the total 100 acres identified for the project. “The documentation for purchasing the remaining land is at various stages of processing. The presence of waterbodies had posed hurdles for the smooth acquisition of land,” they added. Previous estimates had shown that around ₹300 crore would be required to acquire 100 acres.
Mr. Manoj Kumar said the project was conceived during the tenure of the LDF government under V.S. Achuthanandan between 2006-11. “Land reclamation remains a bottleneck, as the region is marshy and comprises canals and waterbodies,” he added.
The government had showcased the project at the Global Investors Meet in January last year. The proposed park was estimated to draw investment to the tune of ₹650 crore through manufacturing and assembling of electronic equipment ranging from television, refrigerator, washing machine, and computer to mobile handsets and by attracting companies in the semiconductor and electronic components sector.
