Massive Tech Park to come up at Avadi

Chennai: Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Sunday announced an ambitious plan to set up a Palnokku Thozhinutpa Poonga (Techno Park) at suburban Avadi. Though the terse one-liner seemed rather innocuous and was almost lost amid the eight lengthier announcements of other schemes and projects for Tiruvallur, which he reeled out at the district’s MGR celebrations held at nearby Ponneri, the Avadi Techno Park may well be the biggest project announced so far by this government.

The project on 48 acres held by the state-owned Southern Structurals Limited (SSL) could boost multiple IT-Biotech industries and provide more than 10,000 jobs over the next five years, according to official sources. This was among the prime poll promises made by Jayalalithaa during the campaign for 2016 Assembly elections in the Avadi constituency, said to be the second largest in the state after Sholinganallur. Minister Mafoi Pandiarajan won the seat.

Of the five components that the Planning Group constituted by Jayalalithaa soon after taking charge as CM for her sixth term in May (2016), the defence manufacturing cluster got shifted to Arakonam.

The remaining four major elements, promising huge investment/ economic development/ employment potential, comprise IT Park, Biotech Park, Incubator/ research park (larger versions of what are seen in the IITs) and housing (to be developed by the state housing board), sources said.

“These multiple technologies will create more than 10,000 jobs in the next five years. We have not have had such an ambitious project announced in the near past”, said a senior official requesting anonymity.

The project, according to him, is unlikely to experience any hiccups owing to shortage of investment funds with the government as the state could invite private partners to bring in the money. 

The state’s investment component would be the 48 acres of land belonging to SSL. This public sector company owes the government a whopping '192 crore. “There has been no hope of the government realising that money, but now this Techno Park project will ensure that the government gets its money by way of this land”, explained another senior official.

He said the land at Avadi, with its property values booming, is presently priced at over Rs 10 crore per acre—which would mean that the land cost would work out to over Rs 480 crore. The project would come up on the fast-developing Chennai-Tiruttani highway at Avadi, which has come under the CMDA umbrella for quick urban integration.