Orissa sends proposals to Centre for mega foodpark at Khurda

The Orissa government has submitted proposals to the Centre for setting up a mega food park at Malipada near Khurda, about 30 km from Bhubaneswar.

The state industries department sent the proposal along with the concept note prepared by the Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) to the Union ministry of food processing last month.

IL&FS has a cluster group which has prepared project reports for setting up food parks in other states and basing on this background it was roped in last September to prepare a project report for a mega food park in Orissa.

Based on the feasibility and the plan for infrastructure development within the park, it has submitted a preliminary report to the state government. It is working on the detailed plan for the project.

Sources said, IL&FS, in its report has suggested the government to explore a combination 3-4 products for the proposed park to reap the benefit of the economies of scale. It is reported to have identified 5 products out of which 3 will be short listed.

In a high level review meeting chaired by the chief minister Naveen Patnaik on food processing in July last year, it was decided to appoint IL&FS to prepare a project report for setting up a mega food park in Orissa.The state government has already identified 80 acres of land at Malipada for this purpose.

The latest initiative of the state government assumes importance as the Union government is encouraging establishment of food processing parks and has already announced a grant of Rs 1500 crore for 30 mega food processing parks in the country by the end of 2008.In case the Union government does not approve the state’s proposal, the state government may go on its own to set up a mega food park at Malipada, sources added. As per the Government of India (GoI) scheme, the mega food park need to be built on a minimum area of 100 acres and maximum area of 100 hectares and the grant can be availed in two installments. Khurda will be a preferred location as it will be closer to the bio-technology park being set up at Andharua near Bhubaneswar which will add synergy to the project.