Industrial scene witnessing sea change

Kochi, Mar 26: Kerala is shrugging off its ''anti-industry'' image and if the present tempo of development continues for the next decade, the state will get rid of its perennial problem of unemployment among educated youth, says Kerala Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organisation (KITCO) Managing Director A X Joseph.

A joint venure of the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) and the Kerala Government and registered with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), KITCO has been involved in a variety of activities like industrial site selection, conduct of techno-economic feasibility studies, energy audit and conservation studies, preparing project reports and even conceptualising, implementing and running state-of-the-art projects such as common effluent treatment plants, Mr Joseph told UNI.

Among the major projects that KITCO had been involved with recently included the expansion programme of the state-owned Malabar Cements, Kerala Feeds and Aushadhi, the complete project report for the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) and the Cochin Industrial Water Supply and common effluent treatment plant for the Cochin Special Economic Zone (CSEZ) at Kakkanad.

The common effluent treatment plant for the CSEZ, the first in Kerala, had been set up to international standards and the project report for a similar one at the Aroor-Chandiroor seafood processing area in Alappuzha district had been submitted to the government.

This was part of a Rs 50-crore project approved by the Centre in preparation for declaring the area as a ''zone of excellence'', Mr Joseph added.

Stating that Kerala's development in information technology tourism, shipping, infrastructure and civil aviation spheres in recent years had taken it on a fast growth trajectory, Mr Joseph said KITCO had been associated with projects in all these areas over the years.

''Both domestic and foreign investors are watching Kerala's fast changing industrial climate with an eagle eye and are waiting for opportunities to enter the state in a variety of areas.

''The state is in for huge foreign direct inevstment(FDI) once the port-based SEZ, approved by the Centre and the international container transshipment terminal, both to be located at Vallarpadom Island here, take off,'' he added.

UNI