The Hindu Business Line : Coimbatore cluster project may be completed by Aug

Coimbatore April 24 The Central Government has released the final instalment of Rs 12.4 crore grant to the Coimbatore Industrial Infrastructure Association (COINDIA), which is implementing the Rs 60-crore Pump, Motor and Foundry Cluster Project (Coimbatore Cluster Project, according to Mr G. Rajendran, President, COINDIA.

He was confident that the project would be completed by August this year with work in the final phase costing about Rs 17-18 crore.

He told presspersons here on Tuesday that the original project estimate of Rs 67 crore was pruned to Rs 60 crore after the Union Government reduced the grant component for some of the works. Of the total cost of Rs 60 crore, the grant received so far was about Rs 26 crore while the actual expenditure was around Rs 37 crore. Apart from the Rs 40 crore grant from the Centre, the stakeholders in the project — SIEMA, The Institute of Indian Foundrymen, Coimbatore Tiny & Small Foundry Owners Association (COSMOFAN), Coimbatore Foundry and Industry Owners Association (COFIOA), Si'Tarc and Siruthuli — were expected to fund the rest of the cost through bank finance.

Pending works

He said work on creating infrastructure such as roads, buildings and testing facilities were nearly complete in the foundry industrial complex and the product die mould centre and education/training centre were at an advanced stage of completion. As part of the project, three foundry complexes were coming up at Arasur, Kallapalayam and Manickampalayam where around 200 units would be located.

Mr Rajendran said COINDIA was confident of completing by August pending works such as a sewage water treatment plant at Valankulam tank that was coming up in association with the Coimbatore Municipal Corporation and Siruthuli at a cost of about Rs 4 crore, the Common Modern Tool Room (CMTR) being established with assistance from the Tamil Nadu Government, and procurement of Rapid Prototyping Machine for use in the production of sand cores and moulds for metal castings.

The cluster project would benefit pumps and foundry units, particularly small and tiny units. He was confident that the export of pumps from Coimbatore region would increase to Rs 400 crore in the next three years from Rs 75 crore in 2006 and that the share of the Coimbatore pump industry in the domestic market would increase from Rs 1,200 crore currently to Rs 1,500 crore, and export of castings would touch Rs 500 crore by 2009 from the present level of Rs 150-200 crore.

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