Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI) and South Gujarat Textile Processors' Association (SGTPA) have joined hands to develop a state-of-the-art textile processing and powerloom weaving cluster at Pinjrat village in Olpaad taluka, some 25 kilometre away from the Diamond city in the coming years.

SGCCI has written to Gujarat government seeking allotment of 50 lakh square metre of coastal land at Pinjrat village for setting up the cluster.

SGCCI authorities said the chamber and the SGPTA have decided to deposit one percent of the jantri rate of the land at Pinjrat village with the state government's exchequer along with the application for land allotment in the next few days.

SGCCI president B S Agarwal said that barring a few big process houses and weaving units, most of the factories produce fabric in smaller volume. Importers prefer the suppliers producing goods in bulk quantity. Thus, they want to set up a cluster for those wanting to produce fabric in bulk quantities.

Around 50 textile processing houses in China are willing to set up units in Surat. A delegation from SGCCI and SGTPA will soon visit China to explore possibilities.

Regarding the facilities at the cluster to be developed at Pinjrat, Agarwal said that the textile processing units will be connected with a common boiler system thereby discouraging the use of chimneys emitting pollution. There will be wind power and solar power generation, common drainage, CETP plant, tertiary treatment plant etc.

It's not only processing and weaving, but they are eyeing garment units to come to the cluster at Pinjrat. Thus, they also plan to visit Trichy, the garmenting hub, to attract investors looking for expansion.

SGTPA president Jitu Vakharia said that the cluster project at Pinjrat is going to be a huge success, but they are awaiting the state government's approval for the land.

If everything goes well, the textile processing and powerloom weaving units could be shifted from the Diamond City to the more quieter place in the outskirts at Pinjrat village.