Kerala   

Rs.80-crore project for Malabar Cements

WALAYAR (PALAKKAD): Industries Minister Elamaram Karim said here on Saturday that the government would give sanction for a Rs.80-crore modernisation project for the public-sector Malabar Cements Ltd. (MCL) at Walayar.

Inaugurating a marketing and personnel block of the company at the MCL township here, the Minister said Rs.40 crore would be spent on modernisation during the current financial year and the remaining amount in the next financial year. The modernisation drive is being taken up using the company's surplus fund.

He said modernisation of the operations was expected to bring down the cost production and control pollution. It will also help the company to face competition from the private sector cement companies whose cost of production was lesser than MCL.

The Minister said the government would use the surplus fund of profit-making public sector companies to start 10 new public sector units in the State. This will remain as the share of the investing companies in the new units.

He said all contract workers who had completed 10 years service in MCL would be made permanent as part of a government policy.

The Minister said an industrial water supply scheme has been proposed for the Kanjikode industrial area as the industries can no more depend on groundwater.

He said Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd. at Chavara would take up a Rs.500-crore modernisation project that would bring down the cost of one tonne of titanium pigment from Rs.87,000 to Rs.73,000. In the current financial year, the company was expected to make a profit of Rs.130 crore, the Minister said.

He said Kerala and Tamil Nadu would sign an agreement on the proposed Kochi-Coimbatore Industrial Corridor and the ministerial-level meeting of the two States would be held in August. This will be a big boost to both the States and assist development initiatives in areas like Palakkad bordering Tamil Nadu.

The meeting was presided over by M.B. Rajesh, MP.

It was addressed by district panchayat president Subida Isahaq, Pudussery grama panchayat president Suresh, MCL director and CPI(M) district secretary P. Unni, managing director M. Sundaramoorthy and general manager Joseph Francis.

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