more-in The Kerala government plans to take over 600 acre of FACT land to set up a petrochemicals complex. The complex is expected to involve an expenditure of ?1,866 crore and the money will be raised through Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), said Industies Minister A.C. Moideen at press conference here. Out of a total of 40 State public sector undertakings, 13 are in profit. Among them, KMML Chavara had improved its performance significantly and netted a profit of more than ?40 crore, he said. Among the other units doing well were Travancore Cochin Chemicals, Malabar Cements and Travancore Cements in Kottayam. The process for taking over Palakkad Instrumentation Unit was on. It had also been decided that units such as Traco Cables, KEL, UEIL and TELK would get 15 per cent price preference and 40 per cent order preference from the Kerala State Electricity Board. An accord to this effect was forged at a joint meeting of the Industries and Electricity Ministers. The losses made by public sector undertakings in Kerala had come down to ?71.34 crore during 2016-17 from ?131.60 crore during the previous financial year. The government had also initiated steps to maintain cement prices at the level of neighbouring States. Steps had also been taken to control pollution and to increase the quality of products from institutions such as Travancore Titanium Products and Kerala Minerals and Metals Limited. The government had taken steps to take over 150 acres in Chittoor, which had allegedly been polluted by the KMML, he said. The government was also taking steps to set up a plant to process mineral sand from the coast in an environment-friendly manner. The State Budget had allotted ?35.56 crore for textiles cooperatives; four other mills in the cooperative sector had been given ?24.30 crore and ?15 crore had been allotted for buying raw materials, the Minister said.

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