Modular Consultants, promoters for the country's first integrated food processing park coming up at Dankuni, West Bengal, are scouting for a strategic financial partner for the Rs 204 crore project. The project is expected to attract a total investment of Rs 2,000 crore.
The project is expected to be executed in multiple phases. While Rs 96 crore will be invested in the first phase, Rs 108 crore will be deployed in the subsequent phases. The promoters have tied up with Eco-Vision Inc of Canada for the research and development centre, Frozen Foods Ltd, (a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan) for the cold storage and Romtech of Australia for master control centre.
The project has recently been sanctioned Rs 15 crore from Hudco, along with a central government grant of Rs 3 crore approved and partly disbursed for infrastructure development.
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Snowman, a joint venture between HLL, Mitsubishi and Amalgam for development of cold storage unit has been allotted a plot within the park, and construction work is under way.
The rationale behind setting up this park, say senior official sources, is that West Bengal produces 27 per cent of the pineapples, 28 per cent of potatoes and 17 per cent of the rice production in the country.
"Food processing is a sunrise industry and a vast potential lies untapped. It is yet to realise its full potential", said a government official.
Some factors restricting the sector's growth are fragmented production centres, and absence of any effective intermediary agency such as producers' cooperatives. Cold chain infrastructure required for transportation and storage also needs major augmentation.
The proposed food park will provide basic infrastructure facilities like cold storage, generated necessary volumes for direct marketing, thus eliminating multiple intermediary stages. The complete project shall be in 530 acres of land, out of which 70 acres have already been purchased.