Coimbatore will soon be home to a biotechnology park which will be set up in the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) campus. The announcement came on Wednesday from the state Industries Minister MC Sampath.

The 12-floor facility would also have an Information Technology segment and Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami would inaugurate it soon, he told the reporters. MC Sampath was the city to inaugurate the Ninth International Engineering Sourcing Show organised by Engineering Export Promotion Council, which is scheduled to go on for three days.

To a query on the progress of the Defence Corridor project in Coimbatore, he said a special cell would be formed to look into it. Adding that the government was planning to set up another industrial park around Perundurai, the minister said it could accommodate small industries from the Coimbatore region.

He claimed that despite global economic slowdown, Tamil Nadu was attracting more investments and has become a preferred destination for investors. He also pointed out that investments worth Rs 8035 crore from 41 firms have flowed into the state after the Chief Ministers foreign tour, creating over 26000 jobs.

Earlier, addressing the show, Sampath noted that Tamil Nadu stood third in engineering exports and the government was focusing on developing the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector to boost exports. The state has signed 304 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) for various projects during the Global Investors Meet 2019, out of which 209 are under operation, he added.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Rural Industries and MSME minister P Benjamin said in his speech that small industries have witnessed an investment of Rs 17810 crore by 11508 industries, benefiting more than one lakh employees. Of the 36 industrial parks announced in the last nine years, 23 have become functional, he said.