23.12.08

Clusters of hope in Gujarat


For Gujarat, these are clusters of hope — six dedicated industrial parks planned across the state, promising employment to over 50,000 people. As Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) gives finishing touches to its project of developing six clusters for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), several smaller companies have shown interest in setting up units here. The clusters are likely to house over 2,000 units across all segments — foundry, pharma, garments, auto component, ceramics and electrical goods. There is also a possibility for a brass parts cluster near Jamnagar. The companies will sign MoUs during the Vibrant Gujarat Investors’ Summit in January 2009. MSME is one of the key focus areas of the summit. Out of the six cluster parks, three parks — foundry, pharma and garments — will be developed near Ahmedabad, while parks for auto components, ceramics and electrical goods are expected to come up at Rajkot, Morbi and Vadodara respectively. For the foundry park, GIDC has identified 250 hectare land at Kathwada near Ahmedabad and it has received 1,500 applications from players in the segment. It is considering three locations — Sanand, Changodar and Dantoli — for developing a pharma park for formulation units. The final decision for selecting the site will be taken soon. State government has already received 25 applications for setting up units in the proposed plant and another 75 new application are expected. And, with women largely making up the workforce for the garment industry, the garment park will be set up in Ahmedabad. Several closed textile mills in the city are being considered for setting up the park. Around 300 applications have been received so far. While 500 hectares of land will be acquired near Lodhika in Rajkot district for the auto park, the procedure for identifying locations for the ceramic and electrical goods parks is in progress at Morbi and Vadodara. “We plan to integrate ITIs with these parks to ensure right talent pool is available to industrial units,” says GIDC managing director Maheswar Sahu.

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