EXCHANGING MOU: Director of Growth-Link Overseas Company, Hong Kong, Peter D. Nickerson (right) with Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi at the Secretariat in Chennai on Tuesday. — Photo : K. V. Srinivasan

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Government and the Hong Kong-based Growth-Link Overseas Company on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding in the presence of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to set up a special economic zone (SEZ) in the State with an investment of Rs. 300 crore for manufacture of footwear.

An official release here said Growth-Link, a subsidiary of M/s Feng-Tay, Taiwan, and its group of companies had come forward to establish the SEZ on a sprawling 275-acre site in the SIPCOT complex at Cheyyar in Tiruvannamalai district.

To start with, the SEZ would provide direct employment to 5,000 people and on completion of the extension work, it would employ as many as 15,000.

Company profile

Feng-Tay has been manufacturing shoes for sportspersons, skating boots and other footwear, apart from producing world famous branded shoes such as Nike. It runs four manufacturing units in China and Vietnam with a total production capacity of 50 million pairs of footwear per annum.

It had a workforce of 60,214, and the sales turnover of the company last year was $770 million.

Shortly after signing the MoU, Director of Growth-Link Peter D. Nickerson told reporters that they hoped to start production by 2007-end or the beginning of 2008. "We have asked for 275 acres with an option to take an additional 225 acres at Cheyyar," he said.

The initial production capacity of the SEZ would be 2,00,000 pairs of footwear, which would be increased to 8,00,000 pairs a month in stages. In five years, it would produce one million pairs a month, he said.

Growth-Link chose Tamil Nadu to make the investment in view of its "advantageous geographical location and a pro-active Government," Mr. Nickerson said.

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