Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Rain lashes city, suburbs

Incessant downpour lashed majority of the areas in Coimbatore district on Monday leading to inundation of residential areas, tanks and ponds reaching the brim.

The downpour since Monday morning resulted in copious inflow into the reservoirs, lakes, tanks and ponds across the district forcing the revenue administration and police, fire and rescue services personnel to be in a state of readiness.

In Coimbatore city, the administration is maintaining a round-the-clock vigil of the tanks and ponds as many of them have reached the brim. Because of the rain in the city and in the Western Ghats, inflow into the tanks and ponds continued to be copious. In Coimbatore, almost all the 18 tanks reached the brim causing anxiety for the residents living nearby and for the authorities.

Reports of likely breach of Valankulam caused tense moments among the residents at Sungam. Similarly, inundation of farms and colonies in Chettipalayam also caused concern.

Public Works Department authorities reported a steady inflow into the reservoirs under the Parambikulam Aliyar Project. According to the reports reaching the district headquarters, Chinna Kallar received 58 mm, Anaimalai Chincona 34, Sholayar 24, Valparai taluk 23, Airport 21, Pollachi 21, Valparai PAP 19, Sulur 18.5, Palladam 16, Periyanaickenpalayam 13, Coimbatore South 8.2, Annur 7, TNAU 7.5, Amaravathy 5, Avanashi 2.5, Thirumurthy dam 1 and Udumalpet 1.

Singapore team upbeat about Coimbatore

The direct flight connectivity between Coimbatore and Singapore will help build stronger connections between industries, according to George Abraham, who heads a business delegation from Singapore.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry-Singapore Business Federation delegation held meetings with members of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore, on Monday.

Mr. Abraham told presspersons that Coimbatore was a city that had tremendous potential to do business with. There was a lot more here apart from textiles and machine tools.

The direct flight service between Singapore and Coimbatore not only opened the gate for more tourism business but also for stronger connection between the industries. Singapore was the 13th largest trading nation in the world.

“Our turnover of trade is tremendous. Our manufacturing companies have been able to value add, move up in manufacturing and are willing to work with partners here,” he said.

Some of the areas that could be explored for business association were engineering, tourism and agriculture product processing.

The companies here could join hands with those in Singapore to move goods to larger markets. Maybe companies here needed co-branding, additional machinery etc. and, they would be able to get this by partnering with those in Singapore. “Our companies will be looking for manufacturing partners,” he said.

“By partnering, if we can have growth of industries here that will be able to service South East Asian countries and more, why not look at it,” he said.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Direct flight service between Singapore and Coimbatore

The direct flight service between Singapore and Coimbatore would help in promoting industrial, business as well as leisure travel prospects on either side, observed David Lim, Vice-President (Commercial) of Silk Air, on Sunday.

Silk Air would provide connectivity from Singapore for tourists from Australia, the U.S., the U.K. and other parts of the world to visit destinations in and around Coimbatore. He was talking to reporters after inaugurating the first direct flight service of Silk Air between Coimbatore and Singapore.


The inaugural flight from Singapore had over 95 per cent occupancy while the outgoing first flight to Singapore had over 65 per cent occupancy. It would have been higher, if the inaugural flight time was not advanced, he said.

The dignitaries launched the first service by cutting a cake. Captains Shri Ram and Mandesh Singh along the flight crew were honoured.

Mr. David said with the major metro cities having reached a saturation level Silk Air was looking at the business prospects in fast growing cities such as Coimbatore. Silk Air was focussing on business tourists as well as leisure travellers.

To foster business and industrial ties, Silk Air in its first flight from Singapore on Sunday brought in a delegation of Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The delegation would meet industrial and business houses and explore areas where there could be ties for encouraging investments. The delegation was hoping for fruitful efforts on education and textile machinery segments. Mr. Lim said Silk Air was waiting for a long to launch its service to Coimbatore. He said a study team was constituted in 2004 which suggested operation of services to Coimbatore. But the plans could not be materialised since they had to wait for a review of the air service agreement between the two countries.

“When the review of the agreement this year gave the opportunity Silk Air came into Coimbatore,” he said.

On increasing frequency between Singapore and Coimbatore, David said a city such as Coimbatore with so much of potential required more services and added that depending on patronage the number of services would be increased.

On the cargo freighter, Mr. Lim said as such the passenger flights could take up to three tonnes of cargo and if there was more demand, Silk Air would impress upon Singapore Airlines to commence cargo services.

As of now, Coimbatore is the third city in the South India next to Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi for Silk Air. Mr. Prabhu said India’s tourism office at Singapore would showcase the opportunities and potentials in terms of business, tourism and culture in this part of the country. Minister for Rural Industries Pongalur N. Palanisamy, Nilgiris MP R. Prabhu, Coimbatore Mayor R. Venkatachalam, Customs Commissioner C. Rajendran, Airport Director K. Hemalatha, Manager Public Affairs of Silk Air Renu Nair, Manager India of Silk Air Ramachandra Menon and Manager of Silk Air L. Ravindran, Coimbatore, were among those who took part in the inaugural function.

Coimbatore Airport expansion to start soon

The Airport Authority of India has given its approval for modification and expansion of the Coimbatore Airport terminal buildings at an outlay of Rs. 78 crore. The project, to be implemented in two years, will give the airport a new look and a host of new facilities.

Airport Director K. Hemalatha confirmed the approval and said the project would include installation of two new aerobridges, elevators/escalators and a conveyor belt to carry baggage. At present the airport does not have an aerobridge and passengers have to walk through the tarmac/apron and climb the passenger step ladder (PSL) vehicle to get onto the flight. Aerobridges take the passengers straight into the flight from the terminal building. Aerobridges will also help reduce human or vehicle movement on the tarmac.

Coimbatore airport already has international flight connectivity to Sharjah by Air Arabia and Indian while Sri Lankan and Silk Air are scheduled to commence shortly their services to Colombo and Singapore respectively.

The aerobridges would be immensely useful, sources said. When there are no international flights, bigger aircraft on the domestic sector also could use these aerobridges.

The VIP lounge and the passenger waiting area in the departure and arrival halls would get a facelift with new chairs and trolleys, said the sources.

Efforts are on to get feeder conveyors that will feed the luggage onto the conveyor directly after weighing it. Customs counters will be fully refurbished and there will be adequate space for new facilities such as customs duty paid shop and foreign exchange counters.

With the available land every possible improvement was being made to keep pace with growth, the sources said.