NE mega food park to be ready by December

The North East Mega Food Park, one of the first of its kind in the region and being implemented by a special purpose vehicle - North East Mega Food Park Limited (NEMFPL), would be ready by December this year.

Around 70 per cent of work has already been completed and the park expects to attract investment around Rs. 250 crore.

The project is being developed through public-private-partnership mode and the centre had provided an assistance of Rs. 50 core to the project. Assam Small Industries Development Corporation (ASIDC) and Assam Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) too have minority stakes in the project. Among the private players, the lead party is the New Delhi based Ozone group.

The Mega Food Park is aimed at providing direct linkages from the farm to processing and on to the consumer markets through a network of collection centres and primary processing centres. The Park would provide state-of-the-art infrastructure for food processing and sustainable supply chain solution for reducing waste and ensuring value addition, especially in perishables like fruits and vegetables.

The NEMFPL today launched a brand - Seven Sisters, to market products manufactured in the park. "We have launched the brand to help farmers and entrepreneurs those who need handholding. The brand will help any entrepreneur or even a small manufacturer as they would then get a pre-created marketing and distribution channel to sell their products in a profitable manner," said SC Sehgal, chairman and managing director of Ozone group.

He said NEMFPL would have 27 food processing units where processing of surplus fruits and vegetables and grains, produced in the region, would happen.