Sidco plans 140 industrial parks for SSIs

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Small Industries Development Corporation (Sidco) has drawn up plans to develop 140 industrial parks for the small industries sector — one for each electoral constituency in the state — and hand over its existing industrial estates to the units operating in them.
Sidco has 17 major industrial estates and 36 mini industrial estates in Kerala. The ownership of all of these are to be handed over to the respective companies operating there. For its proposal to have new industrial parks, Sidco has projected an outlay of Rs 22 crore.
Sidco chairman KPA Majeed said here today that the first of these new parks was likely to be developed at Adimali in Idukki district where the local authorities will hand over 10 acres of land to Sidco for park development. Sidco is targetting small scale agro-based units to kick-start its proposed park there.
Majeed said the proposed new parks would be developed by Sidco after getting the land from the local authorities. Sidco will develop the basic infrastructure and will leave the building construction to the entrepreneurs themselves.
Sidco is also readying to market products made by the small industries sector under the Sidco brand name. This is as per the proposal made in the state’s industrial policy. Majeed said Sidco was taking up other projects towards improving the financial base of the corporation.
Accordingly, Sidco is planning to start petrol pumps at Cherthala and Ernakulam, procure and sell bitumen to local bodies, build shopping complexes, and construct a hi-tech park at Kochi. Sidco had madea net loss of Rs 2.4 crore in ’00-01.