Tumakuru will be among India’s biggest industrial zones: KIADB CEO

The Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB), a statutory body of the Karnataka government, has envisaged development of new industrial townships and sector-specific investment clusters across the state to facilitate industrial development.

The Board is presently holding a land bank of 15,000 acres and is also in the process of acquiring another 15,000 acres to develop new industrial areas. N Shivashankar, Chief Executive Officer & Executive Member, KIADB explains to Mahesh Kulkarni of DH the Board's plans for the development of new industrial townships. Excerpts:

A decade ago, Karnataka government was not in possession of a large parcel of land to meet the requirement of big-ticket investors like Tata Motors. What have you done to address the investors' requirement for land?

We have embarked on the development of land banks across the state to facilitate the development of industries. We have acquired land in many districts to create a land bank. Very rarely, we get a request for a large piece of land from industries and now we are equipped to meet such requirements. The KIADB is also developing sector-specific industrial parks.

How much land do you currently have in your possession?

Historically, we have acquired and developed about 75,000 acres of land in the state. So far, we have allotted 50,000 acres across 178 industrial estates. Currently, in our land bank, we have around 15,000 acres of land ready for allotment. We have also acquired land along the upcoming Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor and Bengaluru-Mumbai Industrial Corridor.

What are your plans to develop industrial townships along these two industrial corridors?

Along the CBIC, we have already developed around 3,500 acres of land in three phases at Vasanthnarasapura in Tumakuru district. We are now in the process of developing another 1,722 acres as part of the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor. The development is being taken up by the Tumakuru Industrial Township Limited (TITL) jointly with the government of India. Both the central and state governments will contribute equal equity for this project. While the state government is giving Rs 600 crore worth of land, the central government is contributing Rs 600 crore equity into the special purpose vehicle, which is named CBIC-TITL.

In total, the CBIC-TITL will be developing 9,000 acres of land in multiple phases over the next few years. To begin with, the first phase development will be taken up for 1,722 acres. Very soon, we will be floating global EPC tenders for the development of the first phase. It is expected that the tenders will be finalised by August and the work will begin by September this year. Our plan is to develop this greenfield industrial township on the model of Shendra Bidkin industrial node and Dholera industrial estate on the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. Our new township will be an integrated park with common amenities, business centre and residential layouts. It will have specific area allotted for different sectors such as pharma, textile, chemicals and manufacturing among others.

When will this park be ready for allotment of land?

Once we award the contract sometime in September this year, the work will begin. We expect about 50% of the work to be completed in a year after that and then, the allotment of land will begin. Overall, in the next three years, it will be fully ready. Around 1,000 acres will be available for allotment to industries.

What are your plans to cater to large industrial projects?

Very rarely, big industries come with a requirement for over thousand acres. If there are any such applications, we are ready to provide land or acquire it within six months and provide. We have enough land parcel for medium scale industries. For example, Aequs Group wants 400 acres to develop electronics and consumer durable equipment manufacturing unit in Hubballi. We are giving them land.

Do you have any plans to recover land from industries that fail to set up factories?

Yes, we will recover the unused land if investors fail to set up an industry within five years from the date of allotment of land. There is a process we have to follow. In case anyone wants to change the land use, they have to apply to us and seek permission.

Have you taken back land from any industry so far?

In fact, we have written to some of them asking why there is a delay. For example, we have written to ArcelorMittal asking them why are they delaying their steel plant in Ballari. We are waiting for their reply. In the case of Coca Cola, they have already surrendered their land at Yadgir industrial estate.

What are your plans to develop sector-specific industrial clusters?

We have taken steps to develop many such clusters. For example, we are developing a pharmaceutical industry cluster at Yadgir. We have already allotted close to 1,000 acres land to many pharma companies from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. There is a lot of demand from pharma companies for land in Yadgir because it is closer to Hyderabad. We are also building a common effluent treatment plant for all the industries. We have also developed a new machine tool park at Vasanthnarasapura Industrial Area in Tumakuru district, which is now ready for allotment. Adjacent to this, we have developed a Japanese Industrial Township spread over 520 acres, where land will be allotted to only Japanese companies. Two companies including Toyota have already taken land in the park.