Kinfra to set up footwear park at Ramanattukara

The Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Kinfra) will set up a footwear park in a 30-acre plot at Ramanattukara in the outskirts of the city.

The project will be implemented in association with the footwear cluster community under the mega leather cluster scheme of the Centre. It is expected to be completed at a cost of Rs.107.01 crore in two years.

As part of this, the Kinfra will organise a business-to-business meet with stakeholders at Taj Hotel here on Thursday, K.N. Srikumar, Senior Media Advisor, Kinfra, said. He said that the park would have facilities for manufacturing footwear and raw materials needed for the industry. It would also have allied industrial units based on leather. It was expected to emerge as a big support for the 200 footwear manufacturing units in north Kerala and provide direct employment to 2,000 people and indirect employment to over 3,500.

Mr. Srikumar said that the aim of the project was to make the State one of the important footwear manufacturing centres in the country. “The park would feature all the necessary infrastructure for the development of modern, technology-based footwear industry,” he added.

Kerala’s footwear market is worth Rs.600 crore a year, but the State is not producing even half of it. The footwear industry made its presence in the State with the establishment of new ventures in the Malabar area. Though there were more than 200 manufacturing units in Malabar, footwear of international standards were not being produced there, he said.

He said that the Kinfra proposed to develop common infrastructure in the proposed leather park, which included dedicated power, continuous water supply, and communication facilities, besides offering plug-and- play arrangement for startups at minimum cost and time.

Creating facilities for instant global access through state-of-the-art communication network was also planned. The project was to be implemented through the Kinfra, which was the State implementing agency, Mr. Srikumar said.

The leather park scheme could be utilised for efficient implementation of the project. The land was in possession of Kinfra, which could launch the project with no delay. The output from the proposed park could increase the indigenous production of leather components that would have a huge impact on economy, he said.