Kerala - Kochi   

State to lose Spices Park project?

KOCHI: Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh said here on Saturday that the proposed Spices Park at Idukki would be shifted to some other State if the State government fails to provide land for the project before February 13, 2008.

Addressing a press conference here, the Minister said that the Spices Board had signed an agreement with KINFRA for setting up the park on February 13, 2007.

“Unfortunately, there was no progress from the part of the Kerala Government in the land acquisition for the project. I have already spoken to the Industries Minister informing him that the Spices Board was ready to invest Rs. 10 crore initially for setting up sorting, grading and packaging facility at the park,” he said.

The Minister said that Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had offered 75 hectares in his constituency free of cost for setting up the park.

He said that the Commerce Ministry was not sending an ultimatum to the Kerala government but would like the authorities to take the initiative in speeding up the land acquisition process.

The Minister said that three private companies in the State had informed that they were going to be major investors in the park. The proposal was to set up the Spices Park in Udumbunchola and Thodupuzha at a total area of 200 acres (100 acres each).

Referring to the issue of pepper replantation, Mr. Ramesh said that his Ministry had written thrice to the Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan suggesting that the Spices Board was ready to cooperate and collaborate with the Agricultural Department for pepper replantation.

The board can take responsibility for pepper replantation in Wayanad, if the proposal for Idukki is not accepted. The offer is still open. But there has been no response from the State government, he said.

The Minister said that the Union Government has approved a scheme for replantation and rejuvenation of cardamom. The total cost of the scheme is Rs.122 crore.

About 28,000 hectares would be replanted of which 10,000 will be in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The remaining work will be done in Karnataka. Rejuvenation of cardamom will be done in 15,000 hectares in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Out of the Rs.122 crore, 58 crore will be spent in Kerala. The plan is to replant pepper in 20,000 hectares per year for the next five years, he said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Job fair for the disabled
Farmers’ rallies to be held
Workshop
Chennithala alleges plot against CPI ministers
State to lose Spices Park project?
Meet on coastal protection
Coir processing attracts foreigners
e-auction centre for cardamom
Bid to sabotage land reforms Act: Chennithala
City to have air quality monitoring facility
In Kochi Today

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu