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Industries and IT departments vouch by the mission of incremental job generation in the State even as they push for enhanced levels of transparency and accountability at the corporate level.
This explains the thrust on latest IT drives of e-procurement and e-tendering, said P.K. Kunhalikkutty, minister for industries and IT, during an interaction with newspersons.
PALPABLE ENTHUSIASM
Pointing to a new-found enthusiasm in investor outlook post-Emerging Kerala Global Connect last year, he said young entrepreneurs and start-ups will be promoted with all possible support.
Two interesting projects have been proposed in the higher education sector. One is an automotive mechatronics course instituted jointly by department of technical education and Mercedes Benz of Germany.
A sophisticated centre will be set up at the Government Engineering College, Thiruvananthapuram, offering advanced diploma in automotive mechatronics. The course will start in June this year.
The other pertains to centres of excellence being set up by Bosch Rextroth of Germany in disciplines such as hydraulics, pneumatics, control systems, mechatronics and robotics.
PROJECT PROPOSALS
He said this while giving a low-down on the achievements of the twin departments vis-à-vis projections made at the Emerging Kerala session held six months ago in Kochi.
Officials accompanying the minister made a presentation on the status of 30 different projects that are under various stages of implementation.
“Several project proposals and ideas were received, viable ones among which are being followed up by department concerned,” said V.Somasundaram, additional chief secretary.
Clearances required for the projects being taken up are being escalated to concerned authorities on a case-to-basis, he said.
Among these is the Rs 6,000-crore petrochemical joint venture project utilising byproducts after expansion of the BPCL-Kochi Refinery.
Environment clearance for this project has been obtained and detailed project report is under preparation.
LAND IDENTIFIED
Land has been identified for the Rs 100-crore project for manufacture of isobutylene derivatives, which will go on stream simultaneously with refinery expansion.
A third project being proposed here is the Rs 220-crore cumene production plant, for which also land has been identified near the refinery.
Detailed project report is under preparation with respect to the biomedical devices hub, which would be a cluster of R&D, incubation and manufacturing units in association with the Sri Chitra Tirunal Institute of Science and Technology.
In the tourism sector, there are two big projects – the Rs 2,039-crore, world-class convention and trade centre at Aluva, near Kochi, and the Rs 1,200-crore tourism cum IT project at Thiruvananthapuram.
> vinson.kurian@thehindu.co.in
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