Mega Food Park project on fast-track

Mega Food Park project on fast-track
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Highlights

The Rs 110-crore Mega Food Park at Buggapadu that was mooted in 2008 by the then UPA government with an aim to give a fillip to food processing and agro-based industries in the region is finally to get off the blocks soon with Minister for IT, Municipal Administration and Urban Development K T Rama Rao is set to perform Bhumi Puja on Sunday. 

Khammam: The Rs 110-crore Mega Food Park at Buggapadu that was mooted in 2008 by the then UPA government with an aim to give a fillip to food processing and agro-based industries in the region is finally to get off the blocks soon with Minister for IT, Municipal Administration and Urban Development K T Rama Rao is set to perform Bhumi Puja on Sunday.

Thanks to Minister for Roads and Buildings Tummala Nageshwar Rao who is giving a big push to the project to get it on the track as early as possible.

Albeit the then chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy formally laid the foundation stone for the food park in 2008, thereafter neither the government nor the entrepreneurs had shown little interest over the project.

Initially, the authorities had earmarked 197.7 acres of government land at Buggapadu village. However, now the extent of land for the upcoming park is truncated to 60 acres.

Against this backdrop, the Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) revived the project in February this year.

As per the profile of the Food Park, the plan is to form a core cluster for the project which includes three vital components - Central Processing Centre (CPC), Primary Processing Centres (PPCs) and the Integrated Cold Chain Network that connects the CPC with the PPCs.

While the authorities proposed to set up the CPC at Buggapadu under Sathupally mandal, a PPC each was planned in Warangal, Karimnagar, Nalgonda and Khammam districts.

As per the plan, a 2,000-MT capacity Dry Warehouse to store the raw material and 4X250 MT deep freeze and sub-zero cold storage chambers will be constructed at the Central Processing Centre in Buggapadu.

It was also planned to establish a 2,500-MT capacity Dry Warehouse and 2,500-MT multipurpose cold storage units in the PPCs of Warangal and Karimnagar. The proposed capacity of dry warehouses in Khammam and Nalgonda is 2,000-MT each.

Apart from this, a plan is also on the anvil to set up a cold storage unit, exclusively for chillies, in Khammam. The cost of the project is proposed to be financed through a mix of equity, grant from MoFPI under the Mega Food Parks Scheme and term loan from bank.

The promoters would contribute about 27.4 per cent of the cost of project. The grant from MoFPI would be 50 per cent of eligible project cost excluding cost of land, margin money for working capital and pre-operative expenses or Rs 50 crore, whichever is lower.

Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC) chairman Gyadari Balamallu visited Buggapadu on Thursday at the behest of Tummala to expedite the works. It may be noted here that TSIIC is the nodal agency for implementation of project.

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