Coimbatore : Averring that the contribution of the industries in this Textile City was very crucial in achieving the target of Tamil Nadu becoming a USD one trillion economy, Chief Minister M.K.Stalin said a new master plan will be prepared to meet the expectations of the infrastructure requirementsof this city.Interacting with heads of various industry associations from Coimbatore, Erode and Tiruppur district, he said the city would be developed as a new hub for emerging technologies and a Special Advisor would be appointed for this project. Expressing his government’s interest in incentivising business and increasing employment, Stalin said his government had chaired five investor summits and provided two lakh jobs in one year.
He said he has charted a ‘master plan’ to beautify the city’s infrastructure to match its business capabilities. He said as part of this Coimbatore airport would be given a facelift at a cost of Rs 1,032 crore and make it on par with Chennai’s and also announced the commencement of a research park at Bharathiar University. The Chief Minister urged the industry heads to strengthen, diversify and expand manufacturing. Noting the increase in demand for semiconductor chips across the
globe.
He also appealed to the industries to utilise the situation and focus on manufacturing these chips. Referring to the increasing prices of cotton and yarn, he said the State government has been taking all measures to redress the concerns of industries in this regard. Due to the unprecedented price hike of raw materials, many industries in the western districts are unable to continue their operations”, he said, adding, taking this into account he had already written letters to the Prime Minister and the Union Ministers concerned to address this issue and sustain the textile industry.
He also pointed out that a delegation of MPs led by DMK MP Kanimozhi met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal. He also said he spoke to Goyal over phone and urged him to take steps to control the increasing prices of cotton and yarn which had seriously disrupted the Textile industry. To promote geotextiles and coir products and to boost rope manufacturing across the State, a coir business development board would be set up in Coimbatore, the
Chief Minister said.
A sum of Rs five crore had been allocated as an initial grant for this project. In Erode district, a regional innovation centre and common facility centres for manufacturing turmeric powder and jamakkalam (carpet) would come up. A common facility centres for coir would be set up at Tiruppur and Karur districts, he said. Out of the 10 export hubs announced for the State, four would be in the western region–Coimbatore, Pollachi, Tiruppur and Karur.