• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• Smartbuy

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

R. Balaji

Chennai, May 25 Developers planning office and hospitality projects in the industrial estates in Chennai’s suburbs have been hit with the Tamil Nadu Small Industries Development Corporation (Sidco) not approving the projects pending a policy decision from the State Government, according to sources in the know.

Sidco, a State Government enterprise, has sought a clarification from the Government on whether non-engineering companies can be allowed to develop space in the engineering industrial estates in Guindy and Ambattur.

The move has caught developers by surprise because Sidco is having second thoughts after allowing IT projects on a massive scale in both the estates. About 3 million sq ft of IT space has come up in Guindy on the southern outskirts and nearly 6 million sq ft in Ambattur to the west. Industry estimates that there is potential at both the industrial estates to at least double the IT space.

Sidco manages five industrial estates in and around Chennai, and Guindy and Ambattur industrial estates have emerged prime destinations for IT companies and office-space developers. The hospitality industry has also started looking at space here. Till a decade ago these were distant industrial suburbs, which have now been engulfed by the growth of the city and have become prime areas of investment. An acre of land in Guindy now costs over Rs 1 crore and in Ambattur about Rs 75 lakhs.

According to developers, at least 7-10 proposals for IT space development and hospitality projects, including an IT building at an advanced stage of completion, are stuck, with Sidco declining to give no-objection certificates. Though the engineering companies that own the land in the industrial estate are free to sell the land or develop it as a joint venture, they need to inform Sidco of the proposal.

On the reasons for Sidco’s move, sources in the know say a section of the manufacturers feel constrained by the presence of IT companies. Skilled and semi-skilled workers with industrial units find IT companies better pay masters and change jobs. For instance, a welder who is paid about Rs 6,000-7,000 in an industrial unit prefers to take up the job of an office assistant because the pay is a few thousand rupees more and they get to work in air-conditioned comfort.

However, according to the representatives of industrial associations, they are not against the IT companies. There are nearly 500 industrial units in Guindy and about 800 in Ambattur. The developers give the units a chance to encash on the growing land value and shift to other locations further from the city like the Sidco’s industrial estates at Thirumudivakkam, Thirumazhisai and Thirumullaivoyal to the west of the city. The IT space has come up in places sold off by engineering units.

More Stories on : SSI | Infrastructure | Tamil Nadu

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Development is priority: Yediyurappa

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line