Date:18/07/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/07/18/stories/2006071811810500.htm

Tamil Nadu

Sakthi Sugars plans greenfield project in TN; to invest Rs. 320 cr.

Staff Reporter

This will include about Rs. 60 crore for new sugar factory

COIMBATORE: Sakthi Sugars Limited plans to invest about Rs. 320 crores this year towards setting up co-generation plants, a new sugar factory in the State and expansions.

Its Managing Director and Vice-Chairman, M. Manickam, told presspersons here recently that this would include about Rs. 60 crores for the new sugar factory and Rs. 260 crores for the co-generation plants.

Sakthi Sugars proposed to start a new factory in the State with a crushing capacity of 3,500 tonnes a day.

Govt. approval awaited

The exact location for this project was yet to be finalised. It would be in Tamil Nadu and the company awaited the State Government's approval for the project.

It would become operational in June or September next year. The company had three sugar factories in Tamil Nadu.

Apart from the new project, the crushing capacity of the Appakudal (Erode District) plant would be increased from 7,500 tonnes a day to 9,000 tonnes.

The total cane crushing was likely to go up from about 27 lakh tonnes in 2005-06 to about 37 lakh tonnes this year.

Nearly 40 per cent of its production was exported in the last fiscal, he said.