Work on Rs 254 crore Kerala Rubber Ltd will begin in May next year: Rajeeve

KOCHI: The work on the Rs 253.58 crore state-owned Kerala Rubber Ltd — a special zone for rubber-based industries — will start at Velloor in Kottayam district in May 2023 and the project will be completed within three years, Industries Minister P Rajeeve said on Thursday.

The government has allocated 164.86 acres of land for the project from the property owned by Hindustan Newsprint Ltd (HNL) which was taken over by the state government recently. The project -- to be implemented under the public-private partnership (PPP)model — will create 8,000 job opportunities. The detailed project report (DPR) prepared by Rubber Board, in association with KIIFB Consultancy Services, was submitted to the minister by Kerala Rubber Ltd CMD Sheela Thomas and Rubber Board executive director K N Raghavan in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday. Industries principal secretary Suman Billa and KSIDC MD S Harikishore were present on the occasion.

The DPR proposes the promotion of natural rubber-based industrialisation in Kerala with a focus on the MSME sector. The project, which envisages the production of world-class value-added products from natural rubber, will ensure better prices for rubber farmers.

Kerala Rubber Ltd will have an exhibition centre, tyre testing centre, sterilising centre, business incubation centre, warehouse, tool room, single window system to grant licence for industries and a manufacturing centre for rubber-based products. It will develop the infrastructure facilities.

The project — to be implemented in two phases — will have facilities for 65 units. The industries will manufacture latex-based products like surgical gloves, industrial gloves, medical equipment, tyres and mats.

In Phase-1, 62.45 acres of land will be developed. While 12 acres will be set aside for infrastructure and common facilities, 9.6 acres will be kept for developing road networks and overhead power lines.

Entrepreneurs will be allocated 40.85 acres of land in multiples of 0.5 acres as per their requirements. It is assumed that 30% of the land will be occupied by small-scale industries with an investment of `1 crore to Rs 5 crore. Around 70% of the land will be provided to medium industries with an investment ranging from Rs 5 crore to `120 crore and more.For Phase II development, 100 acres of land will be provided.