Govt eyes Rs 15cr exports from Vizag apparel park

The government is expecting exports worth about Rs 15 crore from the Visakhapatnam Apparel Export Park (VAEP) during this fiscal. After several teething problems, the units in VAEP have now started production.

"While two units "� Swarnag Apparels and Hirawat Textiles "� have started production, 15-20 units will take off during this fiscal. Keeping this in view, we are anticipating Rs 10-15 crore exports from VAEP," K Srikanth Prabhakar, VAEP administrator and deputy director, Department of Handlooms and Textiles, told Business Standard.

Both the state and central governments have jointly developed VAEP in about 145 acres near Visakhapatnam.

They have invested more than Rs 5 crore for creating infrastructure facilities like roads, drainage, power, water and other facilities in the park where 35 companies have taken space to set up units. Prabhakar said as several entrepreneuers were waiting, the process of allotment of the remaining four plots would be taken up shortly.

The investment of all the units put together may be in the region of Rs 70-80 crore as most of them are small and medium units.

They are expected to provide employment opportunities for about 10,000 people over the next two to three years, according to him.

The District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) has been training rural women for the last two years in garment stitching to help them get jobs in the apparel park.

This apart, Prabhakar said, the government plans to spend about Rs 10 crore to create additional facilities including a state-of-the-art training centre at VAEP.