Gems Park in Pearl City by Oct ' 04

A Rs 60-cr park is coming up in the posh Banjara Hills area in Hyderabad

Come October 2004, the happening city of Hyderabad would have another jewel in its crown -- the Rs 60-crore Gems Park.

Coming up in a 2.5 acre site on Road Number 10 of the posh Banjara Hills in the city, the Gems Park will win Hyderabad the recognition of a major centre for gems and jewellery shopping.

Initiated by the state government as a public-private partnership model through a joint venture between Andhra Pradesh State Trading Corporation (APSTC) and IOI Corporation Berhad, a leading property developer in Malaysia, the Park is coming up with world-class architecture and facilities.

The atrium design of the 2.5-lakh sft facility uses natural and artificial lighting to reflect the opulence of jewellery.

The facility will have two lower basements, lower ground floor, ground floor and three upper floors. Of these, lower basements are meant for parking with a capacity to accommodate 400 cars.

The project is intended to encourage trade and business in gems and jewellery by providing a conducive environment for traders, artisans and entrepreneurs to complement each other's expertise in showcasing the exquisite jewellery.

It is declared as a tourism project in view of the potential to attract domestic and international tourists.

Though the holding company for the park, AP Gems & Jewellery Park Private Limited, a 11 : 89 per cent joint venture between APSTC and IOI of Malaysia, is yet to launch the marketing campaign for the project, a good number of local, upcountry and a few international players are evincing keen interest in setting up their retail outlets.

AP Gems & Jewellery Park has also submitted a proposal to the union government to declare about 80,000 sft space in the park as a special Economic Zone (SEZ) to encourage exports from the park.

"Andhra Pradesh is currently exporting Rs 70 crore worth of gems and jewellery a year, which is much lower than the neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Hyderabad known as Pearl City is also famous for diamonds and skillfully crafted jewellery right from the days of Nizam. If the government accords SEZ status, it will be a big boon for the local artisans and traders in tapping the export potential, said a senior official of the Gems Park.

Once the park is ready, there is a proposal to develop a SEZ on the outskirts of the city, somewhere near the Hyderabad international airport project, for the diamonds, gems and jewellery industry, which would house export-oriented processing and manufacturing units.