T’puram: The UDF govt’s budget has allocated Rs 50 crore for the setting up of a Southern Kerala Economic Corridor, covering Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Alappuzha and combining the strengths of each region.Presenting the budget, chief minister V D Satheesan said that the corridor will integrate these three districts into a unified economic zone of national strategic importance.“Thiruvananthapuram (Zone 1) will be transformed into Kerala’s knowledge and space technology hub; Kollam (Zone 2) into the nerve centre for mineral processing and rare earths; and Alappuzha (Zone 3) will be elevated as India’s blue economy capital. Modern economic growth is predominantly driven by integrated regional clusters rather than isolated projects,” Satheesan said.The chief minister added that by “seamlessly linking logistics, technology, manufacturing, research, and natural resources into a single developmental framework”, the corridor will engineer a robust blended economy, attract massive private investment, and ensure Kerala’s position “at the vanguard of the nation’s strategic and maritime development sectors in the future”.He also said a detailed project report will be prepared through an expert agency to map out the necessary infrastructure and formulate the requisite administrative and policy interventions.Satheesan that the three southern districts possess a unique convergence of strengths — a world-class deep-sea port at Vizhinjam, critical mineral resources along the coast, rare earth deposits, space and technology institutions, and a blue economy.
