Industries Minister M.C. Sampath said that work on the Chennai-Kanniyakumari corridor proposed on an outlay of ₹6,448 crore will begin within a year.
Speaking at the valedictory function of the 25th edition of STICON 2019, a State-level industries convention for micro, small and medium enterprises, here on Thursday, he said the corridor would have six nodes -- Madurai-Virudhnagar-Dindigul-Theni; Thoothukudi-Tirunelveli; Cuddalore-Nagapattinam; Ariyalur and Perambalur; Tiruchi-Pudukottai-Sivaganga; and Ramanathapuram. These nodes would generate employment opportunities for people from 21 districts. “It will not just be roads. There will be IT parks and small scale industries. Asian Development Bank has sanctioned the loan and the work will start in six months to a year,” he said.
Convention centres were integral to the growth of an industrial city. “Madurai will soon get one with 51% funding from the Centre and 49% from Tamil Nadu,” he said. Madurai must compete with Coimbatore to ensure that the gap in development between these two cities was bridged, he added.
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Rural Industries Minister P. Benjamin said the State government was willing to help in the process of setting up new businesses through provision of loans and through schemes like the New Entrepreneur Cum Enterprise Development Scheme (NEEDS). Speaking about Madurai, the Minister said that there were tremendous growth opportunities in the district what with the arrival of All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
Cooperation Minister Sellur Raju congratulated TANSTIA and MADITSSIA for hosting the event and said that a thrust must be given to south Tamil Nadu. MADITSSIA’ had compiled a list of petitions in the form of a booklet for improving small and medium scale industries. The ministers said that they would appeal to the Centre and State on their behalf.