Food park to come up next to Pepsi unit

West Bengal government would be setting up a 50 acre food park at Sankrail, near Kolkata. This will scale up the total investment in sector-specific parks in the state to Rs 200 crore.

Gopal Krishna, managing director, West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), said the food park will be set up on the land adjacent to a potato processing unit being set up by Fritto Lay, a PepsiCo company, for an investment of Rs 100 crore.

In fact, one of the reasons for locating the proposed food park at Sankrail was to cash in on the synergies offered by PepsiCo. Its unit was the largest investment in the foods sector in West Bengal.

Industry sources said the proposed food park was in line with the finding of the consultancy major McKinsey which identified IT & ITeS and food processing as high-growth sectors in the state.

"Even though food processing was a priority sector for West Bengal, there was no dedicated infrastructure for this industry. This is by far the most consolidated effort from the state to woo investors," observers said.

Krishna said the agency received "good response" for plots at the estate. Investors were making inquiries for units producing ice-cream, flour, biscuits, baked products, as well as yeast processing and cold storages. WBIDC will soon come out with an advertisement to sell plots at the food park.

The park will be ready for commercial operation by October. "The infrastructure for the project needs to be completed by October as the Fritto Lay unit will be ready for commercial operation by that time," he said.

In addition to the food park, WBIDC was also setting up a garment park and an apparel park. WBIDC was set to acquire a 10 acre land occupied by the defunct National Tanneries.

The industrial reconstruction (IR) department of the state government has handed over the land, located within the city, to WBIDC for development of a garment park.

WBIDC has initiated a feasibility study for an apparel park near Sankrail. "The garment park will host non-polluting units doing finishing jobs while the apparel park will have units for dyeing, bleaching, weaving and knitting among others," Krishna said.

A service park on a four acre land on EM Bypass with an investment of Rs 100 crore has been planned. WBIDC has already completed Manikanchan, a gems and jewellery sector SEZ, and a dedicated park for toys. Work on second phase of the toy park would start soon.