Infrastructure woes hit Karnataka apparel park

Infrastructure woes hit Karnataka apparel park
The Economic Times

EVEN as the Karnataka government is going all out to woo investments in the apparel industry, infrastructure or the lack of it could throw a spanner in the works. While investors have responded positively to the Karnataka government’s offer to invest in the prestigious Doddaballapur apparel park, the state is yet to provide the required infrastructure for a project mooted some three years ago in the Union Budget.

Sample this! Bombay Rayon Fashions, which has filed its red herring prospectus (RHP) for an initial public offering, has cited delay in the establishment of a common effluent treatment facility and in the allotment of land at the apparel park as two risk factors. The park is 30 km from Bangalore.

Bombay Rayon’s predicament is mirroring that of textile major Raymond. The latter’s denim-wear making unit EverBlue was forced to set up its own effluent treatment plant in the absence of a common facility.

Senior government officials, when queried, said the tender for the effluent treatment facility had already been awarded and work was expected to be completed in 10 months. The fact remains that even work for providing water to the park has not been completed. Officials say that work to supply industrial water is “nearing completion. Of the nearly 6-km distance which had to be covered, only half a km of pipe-laying remains to be done,” they add.

On the land front, Bombay Rayon’s RHP says the KIADB has not yet allotted 4.66 acres earmarked for the company.