 "Adani Ports, Ruchi Ind among 17 awarded rights to build food parks")
The other seven of the total of 17 food parks allocated on Tuesday went to state governments. Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha were allocated one each; the Kerala government got two.
"The ministry received 72 proposals, both from state governments and private players, for the 17 food parks," Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal told reporters here.
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She said the basic infrastructure needs to be set up in these within 30 months. In each mega park, 40-50 food processing units would come up. The total investment envisaged in the 17 is expected to cumulate to at least Rs 6,000 crore.
Among the private players Ruchi Acroni Industries Ltd, will build its food park in Dewas in Madhya Pradesh, while Adani ports will build it in Kucth Gujarat, while Jain Agro Trading Company is expected to build it in Wardha, Maharashtra. Among the other food parks in private sector, one is expected to come up in Kapurthala, Panipat, Buxar, Kutch, Ahmednagar, Mahabubnagar, Thiruvallur and Krishnagiri (Tamil Nadu) and Palakkad in Kerala.
In 2008-09, the government had planned to build 42 such parks across the country, each measuring 30-50 acres, via the private and public sector. The idea was that each would grow into a cluster, where facilities for food processors, farmers, retailers and exporters would be available at one place, helping in faster growth of food processing industries.
However, of the 42 parks allocated in the first phase, work started only on 25; the remaining 17 could not take off, for various reasons. These were re-allocated on Monday.
“In most cases, developers of these parks could not arrange the necessary bank funding and were also bereft of clearances from local bodies like municipal corporations, etc. The government needs to fix this problem to ensure the scheme does get a good response this time,” Amit Dhanuka, president of the All India Food Processors’ Association, told Business Standard.
The scheme envisages a one-time capital grant of 50 per cent of the project cost (excluding land cost), subject to a maximum of Rs 50 crore in general areas, and 75 per cent of the project cost (excluding land cost), subject to a ceiling of Rs 50 crore, in difficult and hilly areas, including the Northeast and Jammu & Kashmir.
The project cost for setting up these 17 mega parks is estimated at Rs 2,030 crore, of which the central grant would be Rs 850 crore. Another Rs 4,000 crore would come from the units to be set up in these. Around 80,000 people are expected to get jobs and about 500,000 farmers to be also benefited.
- The govt had received 72 proposals both from state govts and private players for the 17 food parks; 7 mega food parks have been allocated to state govts and 10 to private players
- The total investment envisaged in the 17 is expected to add up to at least Rs 6,000 crore
- In 2008-09 the govt had planned to build around 42 food parks across the country, each measuring 30-50 acres, with the help of the private and public sector