The Hindu Business Line : Centre okays coir cluster project for Alappuzha

THE Centre has approved the Rs 56.8-crore Alappuzha Coir Cluster Development Project (ACCDP) for upgrading the existing infrastructure facilities in the area.

Of the total outlay, 75 per cent (Rs 42.6 crore) will come as grant under the Industrial Infrastructure Upgradation Scheme from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Mr K.S. Chandran, Chairman, Coir Board, said at a press conference here.

He said that the Ministry had already released Rs 14.2 crore towards the first instalment i.e., one-third of the grant. The amount has been handed over to the President of the Alappuzha Coir Cluster Development Society at the conference.

Coir Board would closely monitor the activities of the society in implementation of the project, he said. The Board would also give technological assistance and infrastructure support to the society, which has been constituted as a special purpose vehicle, he said.

The project once implemented would replace majority of the manually operated traditional ratts in the Alappuzha cluster. The duration of the project would be 18 months from this month. Besides increasing the number of days of employment in the cluster, there would be an additional employment generation of nearly 23,000 workers, he said.

Export-oriented production centres of the coir industry in Kerala is concentrated in the Ambalapuzha and Cherthala taluks of Alappuzha district. There are nearly 250 exporters of coir and coir products and 10,000 small-scale coir manufacturers catering to the requirements of the exporters. It is a highly decentralised sector.

The industry has developed through household level activities through village, small and medium scale industries. Over a lakh families earn their livelihood in the district through coir related activities.

The components of the project are husk collection banks, fibre extraction units, coir yarn production, coir mats and coir geo-textiles units, power loom coir matting units, coir pith processing and common facility centre including common effluent treatment plant.

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