Nearest sea port to Madurai for all the international export and import businesses

The major harbour of Tuticorin is well known as a pearl diving and fishing centre. Tuticorin, one of the oldest sea ports in the world, was the seaport of the Pandyan kingdom after Korkai and later was taken over by the Portuguese in 1548, captured by the Dutch in 1658, and ceded to the British in 1825. (Courtesy - The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001) (Courtesy - Wikipedia). The lighthouse built in 1842 marked the beginning of the history of Thoothukudi harbour development.

On 11th July 1974, the newly-constructed Thoothukudi port was declared to be the tenth major port in India, second-largest port in Tamil Nadu and third-largest container terminal in India after JN Port (Mumbai) and Chennai. Thoothukudi is an artificial port. This is the third international port in Tamil Nadu and its second all-weather port. Due to its strategic location in the southern peninsula and assured round-the-clock operations, the port has been the nerve centre of economic activity in south Tamil Nadu. The Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project, a project to create a shipping channel through the shallow Palk Strait to allow pasage of larger ships, is headquartered at the Port of Thoothukudi. The port currently handles seven per cent of the total container traffic in India and is an important reason for investment in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu.

The port is badly in need of expansion to handle the increase in traffic. The two container berths in the port are of dimension 370m length and 10.9m depth. This limits the port in competing against Colombo port, which has 15m depth. The Tuticorin Port Trust is investing $1 billion for expansion. This will be done in two phases; the first will deepen the harbour to a depth of 12.8m and the second will increase it to 14.5m. In addition to expansion of the outer harbour, proposed upgrades include construction of breakwaters and lengthening the approach channel. The port has been upgraded to handle vessels longer than 245m. The advantages of deploying bigger vessels are that the existing restriction on booking can be eliminated and the transshipment at Colombo port can be reduced. The Tuticorin port has the potential to be an international container transhipment hub given its unique geographical location. Activity at the port has grown at a rate of 17 per cent per year over the last five years. A large portion of the operations in the port has been privatized, including handling at the first container terminal by PSA Sical. A second container terminal has been approved for this port. Tuticorin port is becoming a gateway for South India to the US, Europe and the Mediterranean following direct sailings to these regions. Of the total exports from the port, 25 per cent were to Europe, 20 per cent to the US, 20 per cent to East Asia including China, 15 per cent to Colombo, 10 per cent to West Asia and the remainder to the Mediterranean.

This port has been chosen to be an undersea cable landing station. The optical fibre cable will run between Mt Lavinia (Sri Lanka) and Tuticorin (325 km) with an initial bandwidth of 20 gigabits per second, later to be upgraded to 160 gigabits per second. This will promote the IT investment in South India by improved telecom infrastructure.

The port is also helping increase the tourism in the region. A new ferry has been commenced between Tuticorin and Colombo.

sourcing from w i k i p e d i a

International Flight by June in Madurai: Madurai Airport

Madurai Airport to have an international flight by June

In a recent CII meeting, Dindigul MP NSV Chitthan had said that there will be an international flight from/to Madurai to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Gulf Countries, Sri Lanka, South East Asia etc.,

Speaking at a function organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Madurai Zone, to formally present the report on ‘Traffic potential at Madurai airport’, here, on Wednesday, Chitthan said that the Union Minister for Civil Aviation had given him an assurance on the operation of an international flight from Madurai by June when he represented the demand of the people in southern districts of Tamil Nadu to him.

Speaking on the occasion, T Kannan, former chairman, CII (Southern Region), underscored the importance to focus on second-tier cities to boost economic growth. Expressing concern over the absence of economic boom in the southern region of the State, Kannan said Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai to a certain extent, were benefited by the boom that was sweeping the world while it was yet to reach other cities.

Please read more at new ind press

What is the outlook of foreigners about Madurai? - Madurai Tourism

What is the outlook of foreigners about Madurai?

Madurai is usually not known by anybody outside India.
If you ask anyone in India (say north indians), about Madurai - they would coin Madurai Meenakshi Temple.
Good enough...atleast they have heard and known about Madurai.

Few months back, Shilpa Shetty was popular due to Madurai's lawsuit. That is not Madurai is popular for!:(

Anyway, if you ask a foreigner, they would not have heard about Madurai - may be Madras they might know.
If the foreigner is kind of keen on international happennings and interested in tourism, then Madurai might make sense to him!

However, Madurai is seen as a tourist destination for international and national tourists.
The international tourists usually plan to drop by Madurai, on the way to Kanyakumari or in their South India tour.

Overall, Madurai is seen as an ancient historical place and good for tourism.

OK, if it is a tourism destination, how much is government allotting for tourism development in Madurai?
Is Madurai Corporation and Madurai Government concentrating on tourism development in Madurai?

OK, these days there are too much talk about Madurai IT Park?
There are small businesses in and around Madurai.

OK, let us wait and see if the outlook of Madurai changes to a commercial, IT second tier Hub or and as a international trade location.

Will Madurai ever be seen in the Business Map of the World?
Will ever Foreigners outlook of Madurai expand and extend from Toursim to other industries as well?

Sub-Contracting or Sub-Outsourcing to Madurai - Existing Madurai Software Companies or a new Madurai office

Advantages of Sub-Contracting or Sub-Outsourcing to Madurai Software Companies OR a new Madurai office for the Software Company XYZ:

1) Software Company XYZ could get the resources from Madurai.
2) Next to Honeywell's branch development office in Madurai, Software Company XYZ will be joining the group of software companies there.
3) Anything you spend in Madurai, you will be spending only one-fourth of the amount, which you might have spent in Hyderabad. For example, if Software Company XYZ is spending Rs.20,000 as CTC for a particular resource, we will be spending only Rs.5,000 in Madurai, in order to complete the same amount of work, without compromising quality. This advantage does not stop with the human resources only. This advantage could be tapped in other expenditures, in fact in infrastructure too. This is because Madurai is one of the secondary cities in India.
4) There are lots of Engineering, Arts colleges and one Madurai Kamaraj University for finding engineering and arts resourced skill sets.
5) Most of the work from Tier-1 City office can be sub-contracted to Madurai office or in fact, Tier-1 City office and Madurai office can work together to accomplish the projects.
6) This is kind of sub-outsourcing, but we get lot of advantages in terms of cost, without compromising the quality.
7) Please let me know if you need more information about Madurai.
8) Software Company XYZ is able to expand its development offices in India. One in Tier-1 City and another in Madurai.

What does global IT slowdown mean for Madurai?

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What does global IT slowdown mean for Madurai?

We are hearing news all over about IT slowdown happenning in US. The reason - Financial institutions are affected due to real estate being down in USA. Many foreclosures and lot many issues related to real estate going in USA. Since Financial market is suffering IT suffers too.

On the other hand, we are happily talking about IT park in Madurai. Is that OK to be happy about it?! Answer is YES. Here is some analysis....

Any major change as a result of happenings across the world would happen in one or two quarters. The global effect on financial services will affect other sectors like IT, including retail.

However, new industries like airline are opening up and will spend more on IT. The Indian market is also expanding for IT services. Say for example - Wipro, 18-20 per cent of revenues come from the domestic business. This will only grow faster.

Madurai IT Park is something provisioned by the government with proper infrastructure improvements like international airport in madurai, road and rail infrastructure improvements in madurai. Government has elected ELCOT to do all the work related to IT Park in Madurai.

Now, once the IT park is built, all the IT companies would wish to have their centre in second tier city like Madurai for sure. The reason is it will be much cheaper to operate from a second tier city like Madurai, assuming the infrastructure improvements.

IT slowdown is usually temporary and this time also it is temporary. Financial industry is stronger in USA and it will come back to normal and it will go up more. Considering the fact that the government is changing in US, things would change globally too, since there would global policy changes. These disturbances in the market are normal and we have to get tied to the wave and come back to normal sooner.

As we grow as human beings, we always need IT and related industries to run and serve.

Hence, Madurai IT Park is good to go.

Madurai Map: In and around Madurai

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If you were a resident and you are not familiar with Madurai any more, don't worry...Here is a map, which gives a good idea about the area in and around Madurai.

If you are new to Madurai and you are trying to invest in Madurai, here is again the map, which will help you for your need.

Check this link out:
http://www.maplandia.com/india/tamil-nadu/madurai/tirumangalam/

I was able to zoom in and out. I was able to see Tirunagar, Tirumangalam, Airport, Nilayur, Madurai Ring Road, NH-7, NH-49 etc., This gave me a good view of everything.

I have a plot map from a real estate agent(Sun City) and I was able to locate where the plot is, using the map from the URL above.

You can also check it out.

Changes in Madurai

What are NRMs thinking right now??

As I have mentioned before I refer NRMs for Non-Resident Maduraiites - please refer this back.
NRMs live outside Madurai, for various purposes - but mainly job/money/personal reasons. The location could be inside India or outside India as well.

NRMs outisde India might have more money than other major population of residents. Considering the wealth, NRMs would be wondering about buying lands in madurai, properties in madurai, commercials buildings in madurai.

The NRMs would not stop over there. They would buy businesses - start businesses.
Trade in, Start dealerships, franchisees, agents, brokers. Every NRM will try to make money out of the hype, boom in madurai.

This will be the same, in terms of thoughts of residents of Madurai.

However, when I think about my close friend, who is just an auto mechanic. He repairs scorpio and other SUVs.
He works for a private concern in Madurai, near Bye-pass road. He earns about Rs.3000 per month.
Considering the changes happenning in Madurai, what will happen to the financial future of my auto mechanic friend??

I am sure he is not going to get huge hike, because industry is growing. However, I think the auto company will get much more business than before, due to increased population. Even though auto company grows, it does not mean that the company is going to hike his salary.

But as per the economic cycle(science) and rule, auto company has to increase the salary, in order to be par with other competitors, otherwise the employee might go away to some other company.

Above all, I believe it should be a slow and steady growth for everyone. If it happens to be a growth for only a particular group of people, then it is going to be a problem.

Madurai Real Estate Boom?!

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Real Estate Boom

One of my friend was asking if all the things happenning in Madurai are:
Hype or Reality?!

My answer to him was Yes and No.
Why I say Yes:
By March 23rd Dr.Kalaignar Karunanidhi is coming to Madurai and he is inaugurating the IT Park location.
This is reality.
So, things are happenning. Corporates like HCL, Satyam etc., are buying land left and right in Madurai.
This is reality.
Real Estate is booming - this is reality and a hype too. Whoever has money invests into it. Once Madurai becomes a developed city, then comes the real return of investment for whatever you might have invested in Madurai.

Hype is what people make about more than what it appears in Madurai to NRMs. NRMs do not see it first hand. So, whatever happens, NRMs get the news second hand and they have to believe it. At the pessimistic person's suspicious eyes, it looks like it is a hype. Not for everyone. We will see once it happens.

Whatever it is - all said and done -
Definitely something is happenning and
it is a reality for Madurai to become a GREAT MADURAI!!!

Madurai's Future Plans

Is Madurai a future metro?

The temple city MADURAI is going to possess the following within next 4-5 years

1. ETL convention center cum shopping mall
Rs.100 crore total investments - with multiplex, hotels & shopping arcades.

2. SIPCOT's 2500 acre SEZ @ Eliyaarpathi , Madurai.

Works had been started to acquire land & they are speaking with the local bodies of Eliyarpathi village.

3. RR Industries - 400 acre township - Rudradev IT Township
Total investment of Rs. 4500 crores .
400 acres of land bought at Sholangurini in Madurai south region.
Plan released for its first phase of work & it was approved - work to
be started soon. 18,000 residencies and apartments with 1 hospital , 2
multiplexes , 2 big shopping malls etc., The IT Park to be built is
8-storeyed building.

4. ELCOT's 2000-10000 acre industrial city in Madurai

5.KSHITJI's shopping mall - At RACE COURSE road , Madurai.
160,000 sq.ft.
Hypermarket
Departmental stores
Multiplex theatre
Retail shops
Entertainment malls
Food court
Frontage : 500 feet & No., of floors : G+3

6. Textile park at Madurai in 100 acres
Total investment of Rs.35 crores.

7. Hiranandhini constructions - Residential township in Madurai.

8. Fortune ITC Welcome group resorts near Madurai airport , Madurai.

9. CINEMAX multiplex theatre @ Madurai outskirts.

10 ADLABS multiplex theatre @ Madurai outskirts.

11. PARAMOUNT airlines PILOT training academy to come up at Madurai.

12. Pentasoft's Sport theme park complex in new Natham road , Madurai.
Maayajaal theme park with multiplex theatre - Investment : Rs.200 Cr

13.Children's science planetarium @ Madurai kamaraj university campus
Rs.25 lakhs investment & 25 exhibits .

14. Helicopter service by PAWAN HAANS copter services from Madurai :
To : RAMESWARAM, KODAIKANAL in first phase
PALANI,KANYAKUMARI, COIMBATORE in next phase

15. Kamaraj memorial medical college to come up at 150 acres of land.
- within 20 kms from the city.
- admissions will start by 2009 & works will be over within 2 years.
- 300 bedded multi-speciality hospital - Rs.150 crores investment.
- 150 M.B.B.S seats permitted
- Run by : Vadamalayan hospital trust & kamuthi nadars association.

16. Rajaji Govt., hospital extension @ Anna bus stand - plan approved.
- G+6 storey fully air-conditioned building
- Rs.35 crores allotted.

17. Vadapalanji IT SEZ approved - tender will be called soon.
- 257 acres IT Township. opp., to MKU.

18. SAHARA city homes @ Ring road near Avaniyapuram , Madurai
- 125 acres project
- 15,000 residencies and apartments with 9 storied mega buildings.

19. Arihant foundation entered Madurai.
- Bought 21 acres of land for residential township.

20. Indo-Australian project on solar energy @ MKU Varsity

- Rs.2 crore project

21. Reliance fresh-s started in MADURAI.

- AA Road, Kochadai, Anna nagar
- Bought 11 old cinema theatres of the city to establish its air-conditioned veg/non-veg market.

22. DLF IT park @ Madurai- promised.

23. IBM IT park @ Madurai- promised.

24. COGNIZANT IT PARK @ Madurai - Promised.
Above three Leading IT companies are in talk with the colleges of southern Tamil Nadu to have a tie-up.

25. 1,00,000 sq.feet land for maatuthavani IT park\

- Land identified & approved - waiting for the works to be started.

26. ARVIND Eye hospitals @ Madurai plans an Ophthalmic university.

27. CONCOR-SR @ Koodal nagar , Madurai.

28. Rajparis-padmam apartments

-on vaigai north bank road near Arappalayam bus-stand.

29 . Warehousing complex to come @ 5 acres in koodal nagar.

30 . 2 private IT parks bought land in Madurai.
1- Chennai based CEEDEEYES , a housing & financing company,
2-Dubai based ETA star property developments LLC.,

31. Passport office at Madurai from NOV.2007 near Anna bus-stand.

32. Auto ancillary & accessory industry on ring road near avaniyapuram ,



33. Old Thangam theatre - Now to turn soon into GV studio city.
GV ltd., bought the thangam theatre to establish its 2nd studio city in tamilnadu next to chennai , here in Madurai.
It will have :

• MULTIPLEX theatres

• 2 three star hotels

• Shopping arcade

• CHENNAI SILKS

• HOTEL SARAVANA BHAVAN.



34. YMCA International center @ MADURAI - Total investment - Rs.3 crores.

35. AITKER SPENCE HOTELS

- 80 Room Garden resort to come up at Madurai near Madurai airport.

36. Infosys IT park @ Madurai soon - promised.

37. 28.93 acres of land allotted for TIDEL park @ Kochadai , Madurai.

38. GLOMAC BHD

-Vietnam's township & residential apartments in ring road near chinthamani , Avaniyapuram.

39. TANKER

- Kidney dialysis hospital @ Madakulam , MADURAI soon.

40. KHIVRAJ TECH PARK in ring road , Madurai near airport.

41. Comprehensive blood & cancer center in Madurai .
- By Apollo hospitals , Madurai & BASKERSFIELD , California.

42. World class HIV/AIDS care center to come up in Madurai.

43. Indoor skating opened @ vandiyoor.

- Island lake @ park planned @ Rs.10 crore expenses.

44. METCALFE - 125 acre residential project in Madurai.

45. DAYS INN star hotel under construction in Madurai.

46. Agri-export zone for flowers in Madurai.

47. HCL Infosystems digital lifestyle store to open in Madurai.

48. Diamler chrysler pondering - authorized service station for BENZ

- a new dealership in Madurai.

49. Rs.120 crores AIIMS Hospital planned at thoppur , Madurai.

50. ZOOLOGICAL PARK planned @ Madurai by corporation ,

- Plan sent for approval, near alagar kovil.







-- Scroll down to see the infrastructure developments--







INFRASTRUCTURE DEVOLEPMENTS

Airways:
New Integrated terminal building at Madurai airport @ Rs.150 crores.
It will have :

• 17,536 sq.feet.

• 5 Escalators

• 7 Lifts

• Modern scanning facility

• CCTV's

• 2 Aero-bridges

• Glass exteriors.

Runway expansion :

1. Runway extended from 6000 ft to 7500 ft.
works are going to extend it further to 9000 sq.ft. After that , works for extending it to 12,500 sq.ft will be taken.

2. Parking bay is increased from 3 to 6. A new parking bay is under construction.

3. Another fuel filling station sanctioned @ Madurai airport by RELIANCE.
- GREEN sign & first step to make it as international airport

4. Indian , SRILANKAN airlines, Malaysian airlines keen to connect Madurai to gulf countries , south-east Asian countries , silence, European & African countries. These airlines like operation from Madurai rather than Trichy.

5. INDIAN plans a package tour of connecting historic places i.e., Madurai-Jammutawi via chennai.

6. Nearly 2 kms of ring road near chinna odaippu will be demolished for the expansion of Madurai airport. The road will be diverted from CIRAC hospital to Kusavakundu & to valayankulam.

Roadways

4 Laning of Madurai bye-pass road with 2 ROB'S

- 1 near palnganatham @ Rs.30 cr.,

- Another near thiruparankundram @ Rs.30 cr.,

- Both will be constructed in clover leaf model with 6 arms each.

- All roads branching out of Madurai except Madurai-cochin highway via., Theni are becoming 4-laned & in plan to change it into 6 lane in future.

- 3rd phase of ring road from Samayanallur to Uthangudi is under work.

- Rs.70 crores sanctioned for radial roads in Madurai.

A new approach road for airport is planned :
1- From Palanganatham - TVS Nagar - Avaniyapuram - Airport.
2- From Thiruparangundram - Nilayur - Airport
Both are 4 laned in plan , & also to be 6 laned in future.

Railways

- Northern Entrance new building @ Madurai railway junction in the place of old pit line.

- It will have centrally air-conditioned hall & shopping arcade with escalators.

- Concourse halls in eastern & western entrance @ Madurai railway junction.

- Doubling of broad gauge line from Madurai - chennai is under work.

- Madurai-chennai ELECTRIFICATION work will be over by 2009.

- Got " Rail Rathna " Award for maintenance

- KOODAL NAGAR - Another full-fledged railway station for Madurai by 2009.

- Rs.150 crore sanctioned for Madurai railway junction to change it into world class A1 status railway junction.

- A new broad gauge line to chennai from Madurai jn via., MELUR , PUDUKOTTAI etc/.,

What we can do to Stop Global Warming?

What we could do to Stop Global Warming?

1) Unplug unused devices - like unused charger from the plug point
2) Buy reclable products and do recycle
3) Bring your own bag
4) Bring your own bag, to the dry cleaners too
5) Re-use everything
6) Energy efficient lightbulb
7) Make friends with recycling bin
8) Give Magazines a second life
9) Avoid Hot water bath
10) Avoid Heaters

I got this information from Glamour Magazine's Video on Global Warming!
Please follow this and let us know, if you know more than this to stop global warming...

Check out more for information here in MSN

Global Warming

There is a serious issue coming up in our earth, which we all should be aware of and do something from everyone's end. This is a global responsibility and it is predicted that the worst affected would be the poorest, mostly from under-developed and developing countries.

Direct manifestations of a widespread and long-term trend toward warmer global temperatures:

1) Heat waves and periods of unusually warm weather
2) Ocean warming, sea-level rise and coastal flooding
3) Glaciers melting
4) Arctic and Antarctic warming

Events that foreshadow the types of impacts likely to become more frequent and widespread with continued warming:

1) Spreading disease
2) Earlier spring arrival
3) Plant and animal range shifts and population changes
4) Coral reef bleaching
5) Downpours, heavy snowfalls, and flooding
6) Droughts and fires

Please read more in globalwarming.org

Applying for US Visa?

If you are applying for visa or you want to change status or anything related to US Visa or Green Card, you can check out the following web sites...

Path2Usa
Murthy
Immigration Portal

There are some government sites too - which I shall post later.

To book or check availability of an appointment - VFS-Visa-Appointment

FREE Credit Rating Check in America!

If you are in United States of America(USA), and you want to check your credit rating for free? Here is the free site. You can check out your limit within few minutes, just by entering two forms.

Annual Credit Rating