Electronic cluster to be inaugurated in July?

Vijayawada: If everything goes as per plan, chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is likely to inaugurate the prestigious

electronic

manufacturing cluster (EMC) in

Kadapa

district in July.

The

YSR

EMC coming up on a sprawling 350 acres of land at Kopparthy village in Kadapa district is getting ready with the APIIC executing the basic infrastructure provision works on the site. The project is estimated to cost Rs 784 crore of which the central government has already cleared the proposal to pay Rs 350 crore.

The Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology already cleared the project in March this year and communicated the same to the state government. The state government too had initiated the works like formation of internal roads, provision of street lights, drinking water supply and the entrance gate. These works are nearing completion as the APIIC monitoring the works on day-to-day basis despite Covid-19 pandemic.

APIIC has also constructed three major buildings at the site to provide temporary accommodation to investing companies. The companies can straight away install their machinery in any of these three buildings and start manufacture of electronic gadgets once the project is inaugurated. The APIIC had also readied layouts for investors in nearly 300 acres, where construction activity can be started straight away.

The state government is anticipating investment of over Rs 10,000 crore in the cluster of which, sources say that proposals for Rs 2,000 crore have already been received and being considered. The electronics manufacturing major, Dixon Technologies India Limited, had already agreed to invest Rs 300 crore in the cluster. The APIIC had also given 70 acres of land in the cluster to the Dixon to start its operations.

The state government wants to promote manufacture of consumer durables in the cluster, in which the Dixon is a major player. The focus in the Kopparthy cluster would be on promoting manufacture of home appliances, mobile phones, set top boxes, LED TVs, security systems and other consumer durables.

Sources say that the chief minister is firm on opening this cluster, as it is located in his home district, before he completes the first half of his second year in power. The chief minister had also directed the officials to ensure that basic facilities are provided to every unit in the cluster on which the APIIC is working.

When the officials told him about the water problem for the cluster, the chief minister is said to have directed them to draw it from the Somasila Project, which is in the adjacent Nellore district.