Bidar, Mysore among less attractive tier-II cities for industries

The dismal performance of the State government in attracting industries to the tier-II cities of the State has been detailed in a written response given to the Legislative Council by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

As per the details provided by the government, the least favourable location for industries to set up shop is Bidar district, followed by Mysore and Ramanagara, where close to 50 per cent of the scheduled projects failed to take off.

Of the 1,314 units which were allotted a total of 1,206.53 acres in Bidar, 602 units did not take off. In Mysore, of the 1,597 units allotted land to the extent of 3,299.60 acres, 300 projects have remained a non-starter. In Gulbarga, as many as 229 units have been scrapped as opposed to the 314 which have started to generate revenue.

In total, Gulbarga had received approval for 662 units in four of the KIADB’s industrial areas. In Belgaum, 166 of the 1,898 units have failed to start.

It is said that the primary reason for a majority of the tier-II cities failing to attract investment is the lack of infrastructure, water and power supply.

The most favourable of the tier-II cities, with successful implementation of projects, are in the districts of Hassan, Tumkur, Dakshina Kannada and Kolar, with a success rate of 70-80 per cent. Of the single unit projects by various industries in tier-II cities, Mysore, Dharwad and Mandya have fared worst among the 30 districts.

In Bangalore Urban, across 16 industrial areas which were allotted 5,175.94 acres of land, only 45 projects appear to have failed in taking off. A total of 22 of the 89 approved single unit projects have failed to start in Bangalore. As many as 2,107 units have set up shop in the capital, with another 862 units in various stages of implementation.