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Stalin inaugurates furniture park, floating solar plant
He vowed to make Tamil Nadu one of the top players in South Asia in development and to ensure a prosperous life for people
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on Monday laid the foundation stone for an international furniture park worth ₹1000 crore spread across 1,156 acres in Thoothukudi district as part of efforts to increase the state’s competitiveness in the sector. The park’s first phase is expected to be functional within five years and the second in another eight to 10 years with an investment of ₹3,500 crore to ₹4,500 crore. It is expected to provide employment to at least 350,000 people, the government said in a statement.
Stalin vowed to make Tamil Nadu one of the top players in South Asia in development and growth. “Our government’s aim is to ensure a prosperous life for Tamil people...,” he said.
Stalin signed 14 agreements with 33 companies for an investment of ₹4,755 crore including ₹2,845 crore in the furniture park. He spoke about industrial growth in southern Tamil Nadu. “We are taking steps to establish new industrial parks in the southern districts of Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram, Theni and Sivaganga.”
Stalin also inaugurated a floating solar plant, believed to be the country’s largest, at a private fertiliser company premises to optimise energy production. The project worth ₹150 crore can generate 42.0 million units of electricity annually for the manufacturing activities of the company.
Floating solar power plants, which involve arrays of panels placed on floating structures on water, are an emerging technology to combat the climate crisis.
Stalin called clean power the need of the hour and added Tamil Nadu has the capacity to generate over 15,500 MW of renewable energy. “The government of Tamil Nadu is focused on environmentally sustainable projects and establishing similar facilities in the existing dams and reservoirs in the state which would lead to the generation of more renewable power as well as conserving water and minimising the scarce agriculture land being used for establishing solar power generating facilities.”
Floating power plants have also been commissioned in Andhra Pradesh. A similar plant has been proposed in Gujarat as well.
