Kochi, Mar 7 (UNI) Kerala will get its first maritime cluster in Cherthala of coastal Alappuzha district, as the government is considering to set up a testing lab for allied equipment with cooperation from private players, Industries Minister P. Rajeeve said on Thursday.
The administration has located a 15-acre plot for the cluster that will function as a business ecosystem boosting shipping businesses. To be groomed with necessary infrastructure and other facilities, the cluster will particularly benefit MSMEs in the maritime sector amid a major projects lined up by Cochin Shipyard for the next five years, he told a media conference.
The Minister’s announcement comes as a follow-up to the government’s inclusion of maritime among the 22 priority sectors in the state’s 2023 Industrial Policy. That decision came following Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s visit to Norway in October 2022.