Managing Director of SIPCOT J. Kumaragurubaran has informed that a desalination plant with a capacity of 60 million litres a day will be established on an outlay of ₹634 crore to assuage the drinking water problem prevailing in SIPCOT complex housing good number of industrial houses.
Addressing a conference organised by Confederation of Indian Industry here on Wednesday, Mr. Kumaragurubaran said industries in Thoothukudi SIPCOT Industrial Estate were sharing drinking water being supplied to the residents and hence it was not sufficient for the industrial units and also for the residents. Hence, a comprehensive project report on setting-up a desalination plant in Thoothukudi had been prepared and sent to the managing committee of SIPCOT for its mandatory nod.
Once the permission was granted, tenders to identify the executing agency will be floated within two months. Though the proposed plant, which would be commissioned in 2021 – 2022, would have 60 million litres per day capacity, it can be increased up to 72 million litres a day.
“Since water requirement of industrial units in the SIPCOT complexes across Tamil Nadu is on the rise, we’re implementing a range of water conservation programmes within the SIPCOT complexes such as desalination plants, recycling of grey water, rainwater harvesting etc,” he said.
District Collector Sandeep Nanduri said work on the expansion of Thoothukudi airport would commence shortly as 600 acres of land required for the expansion had been handed over to Airports Authority of India.
Moreover, 50 acres had been given to Indian Coast Guard for the operation of ICG aircraft and the land required by Indian Air Force would also be handed over soon as the IAF was also planning to have its facility here.
Mr. Sandeep also informed that the coal-based thermal power plant at Udangudi would commence power generation in 2020 – 2021 as 30% of work on had been completed.
Chairman of VOC Port Trust T. K. Ramachandran said plans were afoot for setting-up industrial units on 1,000 acres of land belonging to the Port.
Though the lease amount was fixed at ₹15 per acre, it had been reduced to ₹2.60 lakh per acre as the port was keen on industrialising Thoothukudi.
“Petrochemical and textile industries are likely to come-up in the proposed industrial complex,” Mr. Ramachandran added.
