MP govt to develop plastic park near Bhopal

Madhya Pradesh will soon develop a "Plastic Park" in proximity of Bhopal. As central government has already given its consent to chip in an amount of Rs 40 crore to the project, state has started offering land to small private players who are into plastic goods manufacturing.

The park will be developed on an area of 121 acres in Tamot village of Raisen district. Pankaj Munjal-promoted Hero Motors had earlier proposed a sports aircraft manufacturing project on the land. It later dropped the plan as the government demanded fund to develop the area. Raisen falls under backward category district, which would ensure some policy benefits like interest incentives to the investors.

"Under a scheme Union Ministry of Chemcials and Fertilizers has approved a fund of Rs 40 crore few months back and an amount of Rs 8 crore has already been received for the purpose. Aydyogik Kendra Vikas Nigam, Bhopal has started inviting offers from small players who wants to set up plastic unit on the area," a government source said.

The development plan of the park, for which a special purpose vehicle MP Plastic Park Development Corporation has been created will have power, water and roads but also have a center of Central Institute of Plastic Engineering.

"Some oil companies have evinced interesting setting up their raw material depot in the park, this way the units will have plenty of raw material available at doorstep," the source said, development work will start probably post monsoon. The park will have more than 100 small and medium scale units and is aimed at offering jobs to at least 15,000 people.

State authorities had earlier planned to have a plastic complex near Bina Refinery (150 km away northwards from Bhopal) but the refinery has yet not set up its Naphtha unit, a prominent raw material for plastic industry.