ASCEND 2020: 54 Projects Set to Commence in a Year; Seven Already on Stream

KOCHI:
Giving a big thrust to industrial development of Kerala despite global economic distress caused by COVID 19 pandemic, a wide range of projects with a total investment of Rs 25,000 crore are set to be initiated in the state within a year.

These include 54 projects that clinched investment decisions at ASCEND Kerala 2020 Global Investors Meet, of which seven have already gone on stream. Another 16 projects with a total investment of Rs 703 crore will be completed in three months and 15 ventures having an investment of Rs 700 crore in six months, Minister for Industries E P Jayarajan said.

In addition to these, 23 ventures having an investment of Rs 5456.48 crore will be on track within a year, Jayarajan added. The project that have commenced operation are Sharp Plywoods (Rs 8 crore), Agro Park (Rs2 crore), Galaxy Aluminium Industries Pvt Ltd, (Rs4.5 crore) and Jaiza Pigment (Rs 24 lakh) in Ernakulam district, Sayas Kitchen, Harippad, Alappuzha ( Rs 65 lakh ), Navya Bakes and Restaurants (Rs16 crore) and S P Biocompost and Diesel( Rs 65 lakh) in Thrissur.

ASCEND Kerala 2020 was organised by the Department of Industries on January 9 and 10 in Kochi. The event saw enthusiastic participation of top industrialists and entrepreneurs from diverse sectors from India and abroad. The meet was conducted with the collaboration of Directorate of Industries Commerce (DIC), Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation(KSIDC), KINFRA and Kerala Bureau of Industrial Promotion (KBIP).

The conclave yielded MOUs and LOIs to the tune of over Rs. 1 lakh crore. The MoUs / LoIs covered areas such as Infrastructure development, Life Sciences related ventures, Mobility, Tourism and Healthcare. Over 100 projects covering multiple sectors including petrochemicals, agro & food processing, defence, airports, tourism, ports, fisheries, logistics and electronics were showcased at the meet.

“ASCEND 2020 was a big success as the conclave had been able to convince entrepreneurs of the excellent investment climate prevailing in Kerala,” said Dr K Ellangovan, Principal Secretary, Industries.

The meet presented before the world immense potential of the state as a safe and promising investment destination in diverse areas such as transit-oriented logistics development, electronics and high-tech enterprises, tourism and hospitality, manufacturing clusters, waterways development and food and spices processing, Dr Ellangovan added.

Taking forward the momentum generated by ASCEND 2020, a special team comprising nodal officers from KINFRA, KSIDC and DIC was constituted to follow up the proposals and assist the entrepreneurs. So far, the team has held five meetings to review the status of the projects.

Providing financial assistance to the tune of Rs 1,209 crore to 11 projects is under consideration of KSIDC. The agency has either sanctioned loans or is in the advanced processing stage of extending financial assistance to some of these projects. KINFRA has signed MoUs for land for 11 project with a total value of Rs 1,715 crore. Of these, land allotment process is in the advanced stages for 7 projects and the remaining ones are in various stages of processing.

Semi High Speed Rail Corridor SilverLine, Sabarimala airport, Kannur Aerotropolis, Multi-modal Logistic Park, Electronic Hardware Park and Integrated Manufacturing Cluster were some of the big ticket projects that hogged the limelight at ASCEND 2020.