Approval sought for Kochi-Palakkad NIMZ

The Kerala government has sought the Centre’s approval for the Kochi-Palakkad National Investment & Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) – a Rs 53,825-crore mega industrial infrastructure project that will give a major push to themanufacturing sector in the state and remove regional imbalances.
A detailed project report for the NIMZ, prepared by the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC), was sent to the central government for approval. It requested notification of the NIMZ, approval for Master Plan study and Viability Gap Funding for the project.
“The Centre has now asked some more details from the state government in the prescribed format for giving clearance to the project. This has been prepared and is being submitted to the Centre,” Hon’ble Minister for Industries and IT, Shri. P. K. Kunhalikutty said.
A showpiece project of the Emerging Kerala Global Connect event, the NIMZ is to be executed in PPP mode. It is estimated the scheme will generate direct employment of five lakhs over a period of five years, and indirect employment of 25 lakhs in 10 years, the Minister added.
Shri. Kunhalikutty said promoting manufacturing sector is vital both for the state’s sustained growth and correcting its regional and sectoral imbalances.
Shri. Alkesh Sharma, Secretary, Industries-IP and Managing Director, KSIDC, said Kerala has achieved substantial growth in the service sector in the past several years. The present Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of the state comprises 66% contribution from the service sector and only 22 per cent from the manufacturing sector.
“The growth of manufacturing sector will open up huge opportunities for industrial units and give a major fillip to employment generation in Kerala,” he said, adding that it would greatly help in removing regional imbalances.
For example, Ernakulam district contributes 24% of total industrial production of the state and the per capita income of Ernakulam is 58% higher than that of other districts.
“The growth of manufacturing sector will remove this distortion in the economy, with forward and backward linkages. Our vision is the holistic and sustainable development of an industrial NIMZ along the Kochi-Palakkad region, leveraging local resources and infrastructure facilities, without destabilising the environment,” he said.
The share of manufacturing in the country’s gross domestic product has stagnated at about 16% since 1980, while in comparable economies in Asia such as China, South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia it stands at 25% to 34%.
In Kerala, the growth in manufacturing sector (GSDP) was 9.57% CAGR in 2010-11.
Shri. Sharma said the capital outlay for NIMZ has been pegged at Rs. 53,825 crore while the expected investment inflow is around Rs 1,00,000 crore over a period of 10 years.
There would be six industrial zones, two food & agro processing zones, three engineering & electronics zones, one chemical & petrochemical zone and facility for power generation. The total extent of land proposed for the NIMZ is 5,200 hectares.
As per the National Manufacturing Policy, an NIMZ must have an area of at least 5,000 hectares. In the present proposal, 20 industrial nodes will be created in the 5,200 hectares of land. Each node is to be developed as a self-contained industrial township, which will have infrastructure facilities like drainage, water supply, sewage and effluent treatment plants, rainwater harvesting, solid waste management and green buffers.
“We have 1,700 hectares of land available with various agencies of the state government. Another 3,500 hectares will have to be acquired in the four NIMZ districts — Ernakulam, Thrissur, Malappuram and Palakkad — to promote the project.”
KSIDC has already identified around 3,500 hectares of land in the four districts. The NIMZ area will be distributed on both sides of the NH-544 (old NH-47) with a bandwidth of 25 km on both sides and a length of 160 km.
Giving details about the project, KSIDC Executive Director Shri. T.P. Thomas Kutty said the NIMZ would be a combination of production units, public utilities, logistics, environmental protection schemes and ancillary facilities.
For meeting the power requirement, he said gas-based power plants, with an installed capacity of 2,500 MW, would be set up in the NIMZ region to feed electricity for individual nodes.
“In view of the establishment of an LNG Terminal at Kochi with a capacity of 5 Million TPA and the gas pipeline network being established by Gail India Ltd, no difficulty is anticipated to tie-up arrangements for power supply. It is also proposed to generate 300 MW power from non-conventional energy sources, 250 MW of solar and 50 MW of wind power generation in the project,” Shri. Thomas Kutty said.
A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), with participation from the state and central governments, will be formed to implement the NIMZ project. The SPV will be tasked with developing a master plan for the Zone as well as manage its development.
A dedicated freight corridor is also envisioned as part of the NIMZ, which will facilitate safe and speedy transportation of finished goods and raw materials for manufacturing units being set up in the region.