The Hindu Business Line : Warehousing Corpn to invest Rs 11 cr in Kerala

CENTRAL Warehousing Corporation is investing around Rs 11 crore in Kerala to develop warehousing capacity at Kannur and Kozhikode districts, according to Mr P.E. Prasad, Regional Manager, CWC, Chennai.

He said CWC is setting up a container freight station (CFS) of 5,000 tonnes in Kannur and a rail-side warehousing complex of 13,000 tonnes capacity in Kozhikode along with the Railways.

The Railways will provide rail infrastructure, while CWC will develop the warehousing facility. Both the projects will be a joint venture initiative with private parties, he told reporters here.

CWC, he said, has tied up with the Indian Railways to create eight such rail side complexes throughout the country. The one in the State will be coming up in West Hill at Kozhikode, he added.

The feasibility study for the rail warehousing complex of 10,000 sq. ft. at Kozhikode, at an investment of Rs 8 crore is over, which showed that the complex would require one rake per day on an average to make it profitable. The study pointed out that already 25 rakes per month would be available, he said adding, that there has been tremendous response from cement manufacturing companies to make use of the facility.

For the CFS in Kannur, he said the District Collector had allotted 5 acres of land and business survey of the export/import showed good potential for the project.

Mr Prasad said the proposed wheat import by the Government has necessitated a storage capacity of one-lakh tonnes in Kerala. The Government has initiated steps to import 5 lakh tonnes of wheat, of which one-lakh tonnes would be through Cochin Port Trust.

The Government, he said, had asked the CWC to send the details of the storage facility for the imported wheat through Kochi. Of the one-lakh tonnes from Kochi port, he said 30,000 tonnes had already been identified for storage in Thrissur godown of CWC and 15,000 tonnes in Palakkad. Kakkanchery in Malappuram district and Kozhikode will store 5,000 tonnes each.

In total, the CWC has offered 50,000 tonnes of capacity for the wheat import. The remaining wheat will be stored in State Trading Corporation and FCI godowns, he said.

CWC is also considering a proposal to start a 300 tonnes warehouse in Idukki district taking into account of the need for storage space for cardamom, he said.