The current situation in Singur will largely impact the plastic units in West Bengal. Indian Plastics Federation (IPF) president KK Seksaria speaking at the 49th annual general meeting of the federation said that as a result of the Singur imbroglio at least 60 plastic units are going to suffer if the world?s cheapest car is not rolled out from here. He said, ?All these units from Bengal were supposed to supply different components related to seats and dash-boards, so the plastic suppliers will suffer if it does not roll out from here and now they do not know where they are standing due to this deadlock,? Seksaria said.
Meanwhile, Indian Plastics Federation (IPF) has requested the West Bengal Industrial Development Corp (WBIDC) to expand the existing poly park in Sankrail and asked the Haldia Development Authority to provide land for setting up a park of the same format in Haldia.
?In Sankrail, a poly park has already been set up on 70 acre, out of which 50 acre is going to be used by 36 plastic goods units. One acre has been given to us by WBIDC for setting up a testing & training centre and the rest will be used for common facilities. Out of these 36 units, 5-6 units have already started commercial production and it is expected that by 2009 all units are going to be operational. But we have received letters of intent from another 143 members of ours interested to set up their units in the Sankrail poly park. So we have requested WBIDC to provide another 250 acre for these members,? said Seksaria. Regarding Haldia poly park, IPF has received another 118 letters of intent expressing desire to set up units in Haldia. About 150 acre is required for this. Haldia has been chosen for its port facility and petrochemical industry.
?Both WBIDC and Haldia Development Authority are exploring the possibilities of providing land,? he said.
In case of investments for the Sankrail plant, each unit had to invest around Rs 5-6 crore and the total investment amounted to around Rs 300-400 crore.
?I have talked to the principal secretary of the department of petrochemicals under the Union ministry of chemical & fertilisers and the department is interested to support cluster development in the form of polymers and they want to replicate West Bengal poly park model elsewhere in India,? he told reporters.
When asked about per capita production and consumption of plastic in India, he said it is 5 kg and is expected to go up to 12 kg by 2012, growing at a rate of 14% per annum.
When asked about the international exhibition on plastic to be held in the capital from February 4 to 9, he said: ?It is being organised by Plast India Foundation where around 2,000 plus exhibitors will take part from 50 countries.?