CII bats for restoration of airports across Tamil Nadu

Ramesh Kymal, Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu State Council and the CMD of Gamesa Renewable Pvt Ltd, spoke at length about the suggestions made. He tells us, “Regarding Trichy airport, a Memorandum was submitted to the Aviation Minister to include Trichy Airport in the Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA). 

Recommendations were also made on establishing visa on arrival, extension of aircraft bays and construction of air traffic control (ATC) tower. A memorandum has also been submitted on the expansion of the Coimbatore Airport infrastructure and improving air connectivity. This includes the acquisition of land for runway expansion, building of terminals and cargo handling facilities. The CII team has also met with the Airport Director, AAI to discuss various operational and administration issues in the Chennai International Airport.”

 Representations have been made on infrastructural facilities in the Madurai airport, to enable international connectivity and boost the exports market. Demands for an international cargo facility, expansion of the runway from 7,500 feet to 12,000 feet and including the airport in bilateral treaty with Singapore, UAE and Malaysia for cargo flight facility, were also made to the government.  Offering its expertise to help improve transport infrastructure has been a priority for CII for the longest time. 

The team met with the Minister for Railways, Suresh Prabhu and sought for a direct overnight train between Coimbatore and Bengaluru. Kymal says, “The Minister has promised that he would start a day train initially. We are awaiting further developments from the Ministry. Similarly, suggestions on the road network has also been made to the Government, like the completion of the ring road from Trichy NH to NH7. 

CII has also requested for the creation of a task force, enabled by the Government  on the Madurai- Tuticorin Industrial Corridor.” On the industrial front, CII highlighted the achievements of the CII Tirupur Textile Cluster, which is a group of 13 companies from the apparel industry who have joined forces in Tirupur to share ideas on a common platform. 

In a period of 3-4 months, the member companies started reporting savings in terms of space, waste reduction, productivity improvements, prompter deliveries and a collective saving of over Rs 13 crore. Going by this success, now another cluster has been formed with 11 other firms from the apparel sector. Kymal explains, “In this region, we have offered the state advise on restoration of Noyyal river and its sub-systems.  Major components of the restoration include removal of encroachments, surveying, demarcation of the river boundary.” CII has also set its sights on helping boost heritage tourism in TN. 

“During my tenure, we set up a taskforce with a special emphasis on heritage tourism in Tamil Nadu. We knew it was a strong sector, but it needed aggressive promotion. There were sectors that were of specific concern to us – accommodation, provision of toilets, proper road connectivity and the upkeep of the heritage properties. We prepared a note on that and submitted it to the government. We also tried eliciting a response from many private players in looking at it as a business that would be good for them. The response was overwhelming and this will be an area where we will be concentrating on,” sums up Kymal.