SIMA for allotment of additional land for Textile Processing Park

In a SIMA press statement, Vijay Venkataswamy, chairman of SIMA, indicated that the proposed Textile Processing Park project is designed to accommodate 15 greenfield projects to process yarn, fabrics and garments.

The association has appointed Mumbai-based Gherzi Eastern Limited as project consultants for the Textile Processing Park. In addition, SIMA would soon form an executing agency and this would be a Section 25 company. Besides executing the project, the Section 25 company would maintain the common infrastructure in the park after its establishment.

According to Venkata-swamy, the proposed SIMA's Textile Processing Park would provide direct employment to 5,000 people and indirect employment to over 50,000 people through garmenting and other activities within the State of Tamil Nadu.

Already nine stakeholders have confirmed participation in the proposed Textile Processing Park.

The nine stakeholders include Super Spinning Mills Limited, Premier Mills Private Limited, Premier Fine Yarns Pvt Ltd, Bannari Amman Spinning Mills Limited in Coimbatore, Thiagarajar Mills Limited in Madurai, Loyal Textile Mills Limited in Chennai, BKS Textiles Private Limited in Palladam, Rajapalayam Mills Limited in Rajapalayam and Bangalore-based Subadra Textile Private Limited.

Further, another six stakeholders are likely to confirm their participation in a week's time, he added. He indicated that the 300 acres earmarked for SIMA at the Sipcot Industrial Complex, Phase III in Cuddalore, would be entirely taken up by these 15 stakeholders.

He also pointed out that seven more stakeholders have evinced interest to set up facilities in the proposed Textile Processing Park and are likely to confirm their participation in a month's time. In order to enable SIMA to allot land for them, the association has requested Sipcot to earmark additional land.

Besides accommodating the additional seven stakeholders, who are likely to put up greenfield projects, we are ready to accommodate many more small dyeing or processing units who are willing to re-locate from other parts of Tamil Nadu to Cuddalore, he said.

Venkataswamy said that the common infrastructure facilities for the proposed park could be financed under the Textile Centre Infrastructure Development (TCID) scheme of the ministry of textiles, Government of India. Also, he indicated that SIMA has already forwarded its proposal to the ministry of textiles, Government of India.

The processing activity in the country and more so in Tamil Nadu was concentrated in the decentralised sector, he said.

At present, the Tamil Nadu processing units essentially undertakes batch processing which guzzles water and also generates enormous effluent which was difficult to dispose of as dedicated landfill area was not available.

SIMA has mooted a Textile Processing Park at Cuddalore as this location had copious ground water and also the treated effluent could be discharged into the sea, conforming to the stipulated pollution norms.

Against this background, he pointed out that processing units at the proposed Textile Processing Park would essentially look at water frugal technology and would zero in on biological treatment so as to dispose of the solid effluent.