The Hindu Business Line : Apollo Tyres’ diversification plans in Kerala in limbo

Apollo Tyres’ ambitious diversification projects, involving an investment of Rs 1,000 crore in Kerala, are in a stalemate following its entanglement in the web of State Land Acquisition Act (LAA).

The company, which is in the process of shifting its second tyre manufacturing unit, Premier Tyres Ltd, from its present location at Kalamassery to the Rubber Park at nearby Irapuram, has come out with a proposal to utilise its 30 acres of land on the national highway for developing it as a hotel, hospital and IT complex. Utilisation of this land for purposes other than for which it was acquired needs government sanction under the existing Land Acquisition Act and hence the proposal is lying with the government.

Apollo Tyres Ltd (ATL) had paid the money and got the land acquired for setting up the tyre manufacturing unit. Hence utilisation of the land for any other purpose requires permission from the government. The company had already submitted the project proposals to the government and it is pending there as the LAA needs to be amended for granting the permission, company sources told Business Line. In many other States, such restrictions do not exist.

In fact, the new industry policy of the State Government also suggests a positive approach on the government’s part so as to facilitate speedy industrialisation, sources said.

Project proposal

The company’s project proposal consists of setting up a super speciality hospital on 8 acres of land and a hotel on an equal area. The remaining 14 acres would be developed as an IT park, they said. The total investment is estimated at around Rs 1,000 crore.

They said that the ATL has already bought 25 acres of land in the Rubber Park at nearby Irapuram, where construction of the new tyre manufacturing unit has already been commenced. The company management will be holding talks with trade unions and the government.

It would be a most-modern unit with a capacity of 200 tonne per day tpd) involving an investment of Rs200 crore for manufacturing special purpose and industrial tyres. All the existing 1,300 workers would be shifted to the new unit besides there would be an additional employment of 500 people. The relocation would not result in any job-loss. The workers would be provided with free transport facility, they said.

The shifting of the Kalamassery unit would be completed in 18 months and by that time the new plant would become fully operational. With the commissioning of this unit the ATL production capacity in Kerala would go up to 500 tpd, i.e., 10,000 truck tyres per day, they said.

The existing tyre factory at Kalamassery, the sources claimed, could throw up environmental issues by virtue of its being in the suburb of the Kochi city, and hence the company has decided to relocate it at a less-crowded area and in the Rubber Park set up by the state government.

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