Industrial park for coir industry to come up at Pollachi

In an effort to give fillip to the ailing coir industry, an industrial park at a budget outlay of around Rs 200 crore, would be set up at Pollachi in two years' time.

The park may come up at the six acres of land owned by the Coir Board. Pollachi-based Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology is conducting a feasibility report on the setting up of the industrial park, according to S Mahesh, president, Coirpith and Allied Products Manufacturers' Association.

"Though coir industry never faces the problem of raw material scarcity, the lack of technology upgradation has been a major setback for the growth of the industry. Hitech machineries are needed to produce innovative coir products," Mahesh told Business Standard.

At present, the coir unit owners here are taking their products to Bangalore, where the products would be processed further by sophisticated machines like the coir needle felt machine and would be given the finishing touches.

Moreover, some of the medium-sized units are engaged in the production of geotextiles that are useful in constructing roads and are effective in arresting soil erosion.(Geotextile or geosynthetic is a synthetic permeable textile material used with soil, rock or any other geotechnical engineering related material. Geotextiles can extend the life of roads, increase the load carrying capacity and reduce the incidence of ruts.)

"The creation of an industrial park with common facilities such as machinery, skilled labour and raw material supplies would be a boon to more than 370 units engaged in coir making and fibre extraction," Mahesh said. "We are also planning to import sophisticated machineries like the coir needle felt machines from Germany and Austria at an estimated cost of Rs 50 crore," he added.

Pollachi has the largest number of coconut groves, followed by Udumalapet and Kinathukadavu areas which had given rise to the development of coir based units in the small and tiny sectors. Geotextile products produced in the region are being exported to countries like Japan, Korea and the United States.

Coir pith is being exported to foreign countries, with South Korea and Holland being the major importers.