Telangana govt puts Pharma City project on fast track

SPV being set up to develop the project on 12,500 acres; facility to provide entire ecosystem needed for pharma industry

The Telangana government has issued the necessary orders for the creation of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the development of the Hyderabad Pharma City project on 12,500 acres. The facility is expected to provide the entire ecosystem required for the pharmaceutical industry.

Through the SPV, the government would also try to tap private investments for the development of basic infrastructure.

The pharma city project has been conceived as a plug-and-play facility for companies in the entire pharma chain to quickly start operations without any hassles. The park will have all the common elements of infrastructure such as effluent treatment and lab facilities, independent of any individual company. Companies do not even require separate environmental clearances for their plants, since the government proposes to secure the clearances applicable for the entire industrial park.

Singapore-based infrastructure development consultancy firm Surbana Jurong is preparing the master plan for the project. Telangana industries minister K T Rama Rao recently disclosed that the government would even develop a dedicated airstrip in the park, apart from extending rail and road connectivity, to provide complete logistics required by an industrial park of this size.

Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC ) has been designated as the project proponent and nodal agency for the development of the Pharma City.

The basic facilities in the park are sought to be developed in a modular manner, so that they will be scaled up in line with the demand. A major emphasis is being given on maintaining high pollution compliance standards. The industrial park will be a zero-liquid-discharge facility, where every drop of water will be reused within the park after a proper treatment.

The development of effluent treatment facilities alone will require an investment in excess of Rs 1,000 crore over a period of time, according to officials.

The government is using the undulated terrain of the identified location to create pollution-free residential zones and areas that house academic and research facilities. These areas will be insulated from the impact of the manufacturing operations and material movement that happens on the other side of park.

"The park will have a residential area on the elevated terrain in the North while the research university and other green category activities will be located in the adjoining areas. Next comes the orange category activity involving research cum development and on the South of the park we will create red category zone for the actual production. We are going to have a road to the South of the park so that the other areas of the park will not be impacted by the movement of chemicals and finished products," Arvind Kumar, principal secretary, industries department told Business Standard.

A big pharma industry base as well as the necessary manpower and associated ecosystem already exists in Hyderabad. The government wants to use this advantage for further expansion of pharma sector in the state with the help of the pharma city project..

Arvind Kumar said many Indian and global pharma and research companies have evinced interest to establish their operations in the pharma city. During their last US visit the delegation led by minister Rao had also singed an MoU with the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) according to which, the drug regulator will set up a training facility on compliance issues.