The apex body of Small and Medium Industries (SMEs), Indian Industries’ Association (IIA) has proposed to set up a gas-based power plant in Panki near Kanpur on a Private Pubic Partnership (PPP) basis, to salvage the industries of the omnipresent power woes plaguing over 4,000 SMEs of the city.
The local industrialists have been framing the proposal for past six months and the State Industrial Development Corporation (SIDC) has now assured the association of speedy and complete assistance towards realising the dream project meant to inject lifeblood into city industries. IIA regional president, Sunil Vaishya said the corporation had agreed to allot land for the proposed power plant at the earliest.
“The severe power crunch in the city has remained the single most deterrent in industrial progress of the city and the enterprises have failed to realise their full production capacity for decades now owing to the crisis. We are now hopeful that the paucity will subside gradually in coming years now,” he said.
State industrial commissioner Mohd Ifftikaaruddin said the state and central governments were eager to co-operate on the issue of power scarcity and related hiccups in industrial advancement. “We will try to allot the land as soon as possible so that local dependency on state power corporation is abridged,” he added.
According to Vaishya, the project is expected to complete within one year and the association is mulling to begin more such plants in coming period to get rid of the power paucity.
UPSIDC has also accepted the proposal to set up a cluster development programme for the benefit and development of research activities for the plastic industries of the city.
