Eight Campus Industrial Parks to be Set Up in Kerala: Minister P. Rajeeve
Thiruvananthapuram: Eight state-of-the-art campus industrial parks will be set up in the State with the aim of promoting entrepreneurship among students and strengthening ties between industries and educational institutions, said P. Rajeeve, Minister for Industries, Law and Coir, on Friday.
He was inaugurating the ‘Developers Conclave’ organised as part of the government’s Campus Industrial Park project at Hotel Hilton Garden Inn. He also said that campus industrial parks would significantly strengthen the State’s industrial growth.
He further said that campus industrial parks will be set up in the districts of Kollam, Kottayam, Idukki, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Kannur in the first phase of the project.
“The campus industrial parks will be developed by utilising unused land owned by higher educational institutions across the State to address the shortage of land for industrial purposes. The parks will also help in quickly starting the industrial production of new products developed through research activities in educational institutions,” he added.
Detailed discussions on the key procedures for developing the campus industrial parks were also held at the conclave. Developer permits were also distributed to eight educational institutions that have already received approval for starting the industrial parks during the programme.
Government and private educational institutions with at least five acres of land (including arts and science colleges, professional colleges, polytechnics and IT institutions) can apply for a campus industrial park. A minimum of two acres of land is required to establish a standard design factory. The developer permit will be granted for a period of 30 years.
Land that receives campus industrial estate developer permit will be eligible for all benefits under the Kerala Single Window Clearance Board and the Industrial Township Area Development Act, 1999.
Under this scheme, applications must be submitted to the Director of Industries and Commerce through the Directorate’s web portal.
The private industrial estate developer permit will be granted by a high-level committee consisting of eight departmental secretaries at the government level after examining duly completed applications. The Principal Secretary (Industries) is the chairman of this committee, and the Director of Industries and Commerce serves as the convenor.
For providing common facilities in the campus industrial park, such as roads, electricity, drainage, ETP/CETP, laboratories, and testing and certification facilities, the educational institution acting as the developer will receive financial assistance at the rate of ₹20 lakh per acre, up to a maximum of ₹1.5 crore per estate.
The government will also provide financial assistance of ₹1.5 crore for establishing a standard design factory. The financial assistance will be provided on a reimbursement basis once infrastructure development in the estates is completed.
The function was presided over by P. Vishnuraj IAS, Director of Industries and Commerce. Rajeev G. and Simi C. S., Industries and Commerce Additional Directors; Annie Jula Thomas IAS, Industries Special Duty Officer; K. Ajith Kumar, BPT Executive Chairman; Santhosh Koshi Thomas, KINFRA Managing Director; Suraj S., K-BIP CEO; K. S. Kripakumar, Director of Kerala Handlooms and Textiles; A. Nisarudheen, KSSA State President; P. Ganesh, former CII Kerala Chairman and Dr. Baiju Ramachandran, FICCI Kerala Senior Member also attended the function.
Institutions that received the developer permit
St. Antony’s College, Peruvanthanam (Idukki); Sree Narayana Guru College of Engineering and Technology (Kannur); Sree Narayana Polytechnic College (Kollam); Dr. C. T. Eapen Trust / Baselios Mathews College (Kollam); Saintgits College of Engineering (Kottayam); College of Engineering, Poonjar (Kottayam); M. Dasan Institute of Technology (Kozhikode); and Lourdes Matha College of Science and Technology (Thiruvananthapuram).
