Howrah foundry park hits land hurdle

Delay in land acquisition has hit the proposed foundry park in West Bengal.

The park in Howrah is slated to come up on a 3,000 bigha land close to National Highway-6.

The first phase would require 800 bigha of land which was to be procured by December 2004.

However, only 550 bigha has been purchased till date.

The Indian Foundry Association (IFA) which is taking the lead to develop the park, is aiming to procure 1,000 bigha of land by March 31, 2005.

However, IFA admitted that it could fall behind target given the slow progress so far.

In the first phase, 45 foundries and 32 export oriented units (EOUs) come up at the plot. The land allotment will take place soon.

"In most cases, existing papers for the land are not in right order. Moreover, people are unwilling to sell land now hoping for a better price in the future," S C Dugar, chairman of IFA, said at conference to announce the 53rd Indian Foundry Congress, which will be held in Kolkata from January 21 with the theme 'Global sourcing-Destination India'.

Ravi Sehgal, secretary of the Indian Institute of Foundrymen (IIF), which is organising the foundry congress, said the West Bengal foundry business could grow rapidly as there was abundance of raw material. A coke plant is coming up in Haldia and production of sponge iron is increasing, he pointed out.

IFA would like the government to back the foundry park and encourage villagers to sell land as it would lead to development of a major industrial cluster.

A notification has been issued by the government freezing land prices till the parks come up but the prices are yet to be fixed.

IFA has paid between Rs 3.5 lakh and Rs 1.75 lakh per bigha depending upon the location.

The park will require Rs 150 crore for infrastructure and another Rs 100 crore for land acquisition.

The park will house 300-350 units with the total investment exceeding Rs 1,500 crore. The central government is expected to dole out Rs 50 crore under cluster development project for the park.

At present, about 350 units in the state produce six lakh tonne of foundry products while national production is around 40 lakh tonne.