News Article - The Hindu
Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 09, 2009

Plans for IT-SEZ in Hosur apace
Special Correspondent
Expressions of interest to be invited from IT majors for allotment of land

IT Park will provide jobs to 10,000 people

Recruitment Processing Outsourcing unit opened

CHENNAI: A formal notification for the setting up of an Information Technology Special Economic Zone by ELCOT at Viswanathapuram in Hosur has been issued by the Central government.

Information Technology Minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna on Monday told reporters at Hosur that the IT-SEZ would be spread over 177 acres and ELCOT would construct a Rs.14-crore complex measuring 50,000 sq ft.

Tenders to erect the building and other basic infrastructure have been floated and construction would start in a couple of months. Expressions of interest would be invited from IT majors for land allotment.

Once the IT park comes into being, around 10,000 educated people will get employment in the region. As there is a huge demand for software and IT-enabled services, the State government is developing eight IT parks in Tier-II and Tier-III towns in the State, she said.

Accompanied by officials of NASSCOM, and ELCOT, Dr. Aruna visited the States first Panchayat Business Process Outsourcing-cum-call centre at Sanasandiram in Krishnagiri district and inspected the functioning of the Tamil Nadu State Wide Area Network at the Collectorate.

Dr. Aruna also inaugurated the Recruitment Processing Outsourcing unit at Uthangarai with 60 seats. Currently it employs around 30 persons.

This centre, functioning in association FOSTeRA, will undertake resume mining and reverse process outsourcing functions and inform U.S.-based firms about the availability of skilled workers.

The IT Minister visited a couple of rural Common Service Centres in the district that are offering Business to Citizen (B2C) services, such as railway ticket booking and airline booking.

Government to Citizen services will be introduced in the next 25 days.

News Article - Announcement

Nerolac Paints is installing its second manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu at Hosur with an initial investment of around Rs 900 million.

The company has a similar facility in Perungudi at Chennai.

The company said the new facility would commence operations in October this year and it would manufacture decorative paints and paints for general industrial products.

The facility, to come up on 50 acre, would be a water-based paint manufacturing factory, its initial capacity would be 15,000 ton, which would be scaled up to 75,000 ton in three phases.

News Article - Announcement

The Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Thiru T.R. Baalu has said that the total investment by Government of India in Tamil Nadu under various phases of National Highway Development Programme (NHDP) is in the order of Rs.33,000 crore and so far nearly a sum of Rs.13,000 crore has already been invested.

He said this while inaugurating and dedicating to the nation, the 21-km long four-laned Padalur-Samayapuram stretch at Samayapuram in Tiruchirapalli today. Built at a cost of Rs. 110 crore, this stretch is part of one of the four-laning projects undertaken on Tindivanam-Tiruchirappalli section of NH-45 in Tamil Nadu. NH-45 is traversing across the State of Tamil Nadu connecting Chennai to Kanyakumari and also the Golden Quadrilateral Corridor. Thiru Baalu hoped that upgradation of this stretch would improve the connectivity of all parts of the country with the remote Southern Region.

This 21-km long stretch includes one major bridge over Uppar River, one minor bridge and 21 culverts which have been constructed to have the carriageway of four-lane configuration. Thiru Baalu said that the stretch would result in reduction in travel time, savings in vehicle operation cost and it would be of immense benefit for business, farmers, travellers and local public.

Giving details of various road sector project in Tamil Nadu, Thiru Baalu said that Tamil Nadu is served by 4,676- km length of National Highways out of which, 3,261 kms have been taken up by the NHAI for four-laning under the NHDP and other projects. The Golden Quadrilateral length of 342 kms under NHDP Phase-I in Tamil Nadu has been upgraded to four-lane facility at a cost Rs.1,710 crore.

The Minister further said that under NHDP Phase-II, which is also known as the North-South Corridor, out of the approved length of 756 kms, 436-km length has been widened to four-lanes, works of four-laning in 15 packages covering 238-km length are in progress and preparation of feasibility report in the remaining 82-km length is under progress. This corridor traversing through Krishnagiri, Salem, Namakkal, Karur, Dindigul, Madurai and Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu connects Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border at Hosur with Kanniyakumari. The estimated investment under NHDP PhaseII in Tamil Nadu is Rs.4, 280 crore.

Thiru Baalu added that works in 517-km length in six packages are under implementation under NHDP Phase-III which covers 1,464-km length of various National Highways in Tamil Nadu. For NHDP Phase III, the investment is likely to be Rs.9,880 crore. A total length of 1,232-km in Tamil Nadu has been included under NHDP Phase IV-A, with an investment of Rs.2, 464 crore, for improvement to 2-lane with paved shoulders, he added.

Other Projects in Tamil Nadu cover four-laning of 422-km length of NH-45 and NH-45B with an estimated cost of Rs.2,530 crore from Chennai to Madurai via Tiruchirapalli, in which works in 306-km length have already been completed and works in remaining 116-km length are in progress, the Minister informed.

Referring to the developmental works undertaken by his Ministry in the Chennai City, he said that Chennai has been given due priority in our programme of improvement. Four-laning of Chennai Bypass Phase-I, the flyover at Chennai Airport and the Grade separator at Kathipara, construction of two more grade separators at Koyambedu and Padi as well as four- laning of Koyambedu-Maduravoyal section of NH-4 within Chennai City also form part of the improvement of access facilities to the Golden Quadrilateral Corrdior. These access facilities will cost Rs.800 crore.

Giving information about some other projects being implemented in Tamil Nadu by the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways, Thiru Baalu said that construction of ROB at Lalapet on NH-67 is nearing completion, improvement of Karur-Coimbatore Section of NH-67 is targeted for completion by March next year. He said that construction of bypasses, ring roads, grade separated intersections and flyovers are being considered under NHDP Phase VII, similarly, Ring roads around Tirunelveli, Tiruchirappalli, Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Salem and the Elevated link road to Chennai Port are proposed under NHDP Phase-VII.

Apart from the Union Minister Thiru T.R.Baalu, Ministers of Government of Tamil Nadu, Thiru K.N. Nehru, Thiru N. Selvaraj, and Member of Parliament Thiru L. Ganesan, participated in the function.

News Article - Announcement

For the first time, Krishnagiri district would get an underground drainage system if the State government approves the Rs 71 crore project proposal sent to it by the Hosur Municipality.

The project would not only link all drainages in the town through five sub-stations, but also recycle the water so that it could be used in agricultural fields, said Jai Anand, twelth ward municipal councillor.

He said all party council members in the municipality have joined hands to implement the project as soon as the government accords its permission.

According to the proposal, the project would be executed by the Tamil Nadu Water and Drainage Board (TWAD) by floating nationwide tender.

Explaining the importance of the proposal, K Govindarajulu, a former municipal councillor, said, since the government is in the process of establishing a special economic zone and IT park in this region, several entities are studying feasibility to set up their units here. At this juncture, he said the town should be upgraded on par with the international standard.

He also said that municipality should float a global tender, allowing experienced international enterprises, to execute the underground drainage project as the work comprises critical underground tunnelling.