Almost 11 years after its conception, the civil works for the construction of an export centre at Hebbal Industrial area, on the outskirts of the city, began on Sunday.
It is being established with government funding at a cost of ₹4.5 crore and will act as a single-window agency for all export activities and give a fillip to export promotion from Mysuru.
While the Union government has contributed ₹3 crore for it, the State government has pitched in with ₹2 crore and ₹50 lakh has been pooled by the stakeholders.
Suresh Kumar Jain, general secretary, Mysuru Industries Association (MIA), said the ground was cleared of weeds and the civil works was launched and will be completed within a year.
The centre is the first-of-its-kind in Karnataka and will feature an export house, an auditorium for training, and will give a fillip to the export business of Mysuru, he added.
The association will function as a nodal agency and the Centre will provide marketing assistance, conduct training programmes, and will have facilities for conducting business to business (B2B) meetings.
According to MIA, engineering and manufacturing units, ancillary units for automobile companies, agarbatti units, and handicrafts and other traditional products of Mysuru are regularly exported abroad.
The centre was mooted in 2008 by the then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Public Works Minister H.C. Mahadevappa laid the foundation stone for it in 2014. But administrative delays and hitches bogged the project.
The centre will be expanded in the second phase and will feature additional amenities based on the requirement of the exporting units.