Aerospace Park, new feather in Palasamudram's cap

Palasamudram(Sri Sathya Sai district): A major defence project, 'Aerospace Park' by Bharath Electricals Limited (BEL), will become another feather on the cap of industrial town, Penukonda. Civil works are on progress and the BEL has already constructed a compound wall and internal concrete and cement roads by spending Rs 50 crore. A solar plant had already established in the premises to meet its energy requirements. A total of 1,200 acres had been acquired for the Bel Project.

APIIC zonal manager Murali Mohan told The Hans India that BEL on its part is ready to commence technical construction of the plant but waiting for the final nod from the Centre and even for release of funds for the project. According to BEL original schedule, the plant will be established and become operational by 2025.

Larsen and Tubro (L&T) construction major, which is given consultancy job for the Aerospace Defence and Electronic Park project, has completed it's public hearing and submitted a report to the district administration as a step towards starting civil works of the project.

The project costing Rs 450 crore and spread over an area of 260 acres will provide direct employment to 2,500 people and indirect employment to 6,250 personnel. It will have facilities like assembly hangers, hard stands for radars and weapon integration, RF radiation sources for target simulation, automatic test equipment, clean rooms for electronic assembly, non-explosive & explosive integration building, environmental test chambers, fire stations, solar power plant, estate and admin buildings.

Kerala-based major technical consultancy organisation KITCO Ltd has bagged the consultancy for the defence system integration complex (DSIC) to be set up at Palasamudram by Bharat Electronics Ltd. Phase I involves setting up of weapon system integration, beacon facilities and hard stands while phase II involves homeland security (HLS), weapon manufacturing, unmanned aerial etc.

Meanwhile, locals are demanding jobs in the industries to come up should be given to their youth only.