Plastic Park in Mangaluru gets ‘in-principle approval’ from MoCF

Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers D V Sadananda Gowda on Friday said that the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers (MoCF) has given ‘in-principle approval’ for setting up Plastic Park in Ganjimutt, on the outskirts of Mangaluru.

The in-principle approval was given for setting up of plastic park in two places including in Ganjimutt under the scheme for setting up of Plastic Parks. “The park will have an ecosystem with state of the art infrastructure building and enabling common facility to consolidate and synergize the capacities of the domestic downstream plastic processing industry,” Gowda tweeted.

“Plastic parks are important for realising the goals of Make in India programme. The in-principal approval is valid for six months. Hence a detailed project report should be submitted to the department at the earliest for expediting grant of final approval,” informed Pamela Kumar, Under Secretary to Government of India in a letter to Additional Chief Secretary, Commerce and Industry Department of Karnataka.

It may be recalled that then union minister late Ananth Kumar had announced the setting up of plastic park in Mangaluru at a total cost of Rs 152 crore in 2015. According to sources in MRPL (Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited), the Plastic Park will provide employment to hundreds of unemployed youth. The Polypropelene unit in MRPL would supply raw plastic to units located in Plastic and Polymer park in Ganjimutt.

Presently MRPL’s raw plastic is being sent to Gujarat and Maharashtra. The plastic park will not only utilise raw plastic but also will be saving on transportation cost. Sources told DH that as many as 32 companies from DK and Udupi districts had registered with the department on setting up units in Plastic park. Even entrepreneurs from other districts had evinced keen interest on setting up plants in Plastic park, sources added.

Over 104 acres in Ganjimutt had been earmarked for the Plastic Park. There are provisions to acquire an additional 50 acres of land, informed sources in District Industries Centre.

DK MP Nalin Kumar Kateel said the Plastic park in Ganjimutt will play a crucial role in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious ‘Make in India’ campaign. Kateel also thanked Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and Union Minister D V Sadananda Gowda for getting approval for the project.