The Screening Committee of Punjab government, has recommended six projects under the Agri Mega Projects Scheme involving capital investment of Rs 1,653 crore.
Giving details of the project, Sanjay Kumar, Managing Director, Punjab Agro Industries Corporation stated that the Government has received new proposals to set up mega agro-based industries in the state. The projects include proposals from M/s Soma Punjab Warehousing (Pvt) Ltd for construction of agricultural warehouses at twelve different locations in Punjab having capacity of 12.97 lakh metric tonnes with a proposed investment of Rs 615 crore.
Soma Punjab Agro-Power Infra (Pvt) Ltd has also proposed to set up eight rice mills with a capacity of 20TPH and a bio-mass power plant of 3 MW . The proposed investment will be around Rs 472 crore. Further, Indian Sucross Ltd has proposed to invest around Rs 140 crore. They will not only revive the existing closed unit of Mukerian Paper Ltd but will also add additional capacity to the paper mill. In addition, they will also install soda recovery plant and power co-generation plant.
Nasa Agro Industries Limited have proposed to invest Rs 400 crore to set up an integrated agro-industrial park in district Fazilka. The industrial park will have number of agro-based industrial units. Sampuran Agri-Ventrues Pvt Limited has proposed to set up an integrated agro-based project with an investment of Rs 33.56 crore in district Ferozepur.
This would primarily produce bio-fertiliser, provide facilities for mushroom growing & packaging, egg hatchery, dairy farming as well as power co-generation. The unique feature of this project is that it would be utilising saline water, which is at present creating a lot of waste land in water-logged areas of district Fazilka.
Also, Bajaj Basmati Pvt Ltd, with an investment of Rs 30.56 crore, have proposed to set up 8 TPH rice mill at Jalalabad, district Ferozepur. So far, more than 40 agro-based mega projects have been cleared by the government and they are at different stages of implementation as well as completion. These units are likely to invest more than Rs 4,000 crore in the state.