Thiruvananthapuram: The Union government has approved extension of the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor to Coimbatore and then to Kochi. The National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust informed the Kerala government on about the decision on Wednesday.
The Centre's decision comes in the wake of continuos pressure from the state government to extend the said corridor up to Kochi. The Kochi-Coimbatore corridor is being developed as part of the national industrial corridor.
Two Integrated Manufacturing Clusters (IMC) will be developed in Palakkad and Salem on either side of the K-Salem National Highway. The IMC in Palakkad is expected to create 1,000 direct jobs and attract investment to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore from the private sector.
A Special Purpose Vehicle, to be set up jointly by the state and Centre will run the IMC. While the Centre will invest Rs 870 crore to develop the area for industries, the price of the land will be the state government's share.
The multi-product cluster will have electronics, food processing, IT, agri-based and traditional industries. The proximity of the proposed IMC to the Kochi Port could enable more industries to come up in the Palakkad-Kochi region.