The right step forward in footwear designing

November 23, 2013March 31, 2019 Guru

The much-touted campus of the Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI) under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry is likely to be set up on the land of Kinfra Advanced Technology Park at Ramanattukara. Officials say that the FDDI authorities had visited the land of Kinfra Park and expressed satisfaction over the proposed 20-acre land.

The project will be implemented at an estimated cost of Rs 300 crore and as an initial funding, the Union Government has sanctioned Rs 100 crore. Earlier, the state government had proposed 20 acres of land in Kinalur Estate for setting up the campus, but a team comprising FDDI managing director Rajeev J Lakhara and secretary Ajay Kumar visited the site and expressed dissatisfaction on accessibility issues. However, M K Raghavan MP says that the FDDI officials have expressed satisfaction over the site proposed at Ramanattukara as it not far away from the airport.

“The Union Government has already given nod for setting up a campus of Footwear Designing Development Institute in Kozhikode district. The project was first proposed at Kinalur Estate, but the Central team, after visiting the place, expressed reservations on setting up the campus in Kinalur on accessibility grounds. Thus we have proposed two alternative sites – the Kinfra Park at Ramanattukara and the Marine Park at Beyore. The FDDI officials had visited the site at Ramanattukara and expressed satisfaction,” he says.

He further says that the FDDI has sought 20 acres of land for the campus and the proposal is before the state government. “There will not be any issues in handing over the land and we hope that the campus will come up at Ramanattukara without any further issues,” he says. The Kozhikode campus will have the capacity to accommodate 800 students, along with hostel facilities, state-of-the-art IT lab, machinery and training facilities. There will be seven courses in the institute, each having a strength of 60 students. At present the FDDI based at Noida, New Delhi, has branches in eight cities across the country. Since 2006, the Kerala State Small Industries Association has been demanding a campus of the FDDI in Kozhikode, which has over 600 footwear manufacturing units with an annual turnover of Rs 700 crore, giving employment to around 25,000 people. Kozhikode is perfectly placed to house an FDDI campus as it is the second biggest footwear manufacturing hub in the country after New Delhi.

Institutes that offer footwear-related courses: