The company is in an advanced stage of tying up funds and completing the acquisition of 110 acres of land at Perumbavoor, near Kochi, required for the first integrated rubber and rubber products processing plant in the country. The company has also appointed the Delhi-based architects Kukreja and Associates for preparing the construction designs for the venture.

According to Rubber Board sources Nagercoil, in Tamil Nadu, will be the next site to set up a park to facilitate export of value-added rubber products from the country.

George Joseph, managing director of Rubber Park, said the company has appointed State Bank of India as the lead arranger for the debt portion of the Rs 36.61crore project. He said SBI has already committed a term loan of rs 5 crore for the venture. A slew of other banks and institutions are in the race for joining the consortium, he added. He said, the company is at present planning to bring down the debt component from the original level of Rs 16.5 crore to Rs 12 crore.

The project, which is structured on a debt equity ratio of 1:1, will have an equity portion of Rs 20 crore, Rs 10 crore each by government of India and government of Kerala. While the Centre will pump in its equity through its undertaking Rubber Board the State Government's equity will be met by the Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Kinfra).

Building roads, setting up water storage tanks and other facilities will leave place for about 60-80 units to in the park.

According Joseph, the minimum investment required to set up a unit in the park will be around Rs 2-3 crore. It is a high-investment area, he said, adding that many enquiries have come from outsideKerala.

He said the company has opened talks with the Kerala State Electricity Board for ensuring dedicated power supply to the project. He said, Rubber Park has provided three alternative proposals to KSEB for its consideration. The proposals under scrutiny include the setting up of a 110 KV sub-station or a 33 KV sub-station. Another proposal being considered is the laying of a 11 KV cable line to the project site. Water for the project will be either harnessed locally or brought to the project through a 15 KM canal or pipeline. The Centre for Earth Sciences has been appointed as the consultants for finalising the water supply scheme, he added.

According to the Board sources the road from Perumbavoor to Kochi will be upgraded and all transportation facilities for the units will be provided. The park which will also have the most modern facilities to conduct trade, he said.

The idea of a park has been conceived with an aim to provide an outlet for natural rubber consumption. Natural rubber hadwitnessed a considerable fall in the prices with surplus production and recession setting in the economy. Production of natural rubber in the country was 5.84 lakh tonnes against the consumption of 5.72 lakh tonnes in 1997-98.

According to Board sources there are about 6000 rubber-based industries in the country making a variety of products. It is a sector with enormous potential and the global market is waiting to be tapped by, he said.

The country's status as a net importer in the global market till recently impedes its way to emerge as a major exporter of natural rubber. Hence the value addition.

Indian rubber is not used by major rubber-consuming countries. China, the US and Japan together account for more than 50 per cent of the total natural rubber consumption.

Performance on the export front has been disappointing with forex earnings from the commodity only touching Rs 1,360 crore. Increasing the figure up to at least 2-3 per cent of the total forex earnings would be a satisfying figure, thesource said.

Earlier, the Rubber Board had earlier decided to promote the use and production of Special Purpose Natural Rubber (SPNR) for creating better value addition and price realisation for the growers. The Rubber Board has also revised the production and consumption figures for natural rubber during the Ninth Five-Year Plan. According to the revised estimates, the board has predicted a natural rubber deficit scenario by the year 2003-4. The growers could expect a turnaround in their fortunes by the turn of the next century.

The central government had announced the setting up of a rubber park in October last as a long-term measure to stem the falling rubber prices. The Rs 36.5 crore venture was conceived as an integrated complex to develop forward linkages in the state.