First Food Park in Northeast by Next Year

By Supratim Dey

Guwahati Feb 17 : The Rs 76-crore “mega” Food Park, which is coming up at Tihu in Nalbari district in lower Assam and promises to attract investment to the tune of Rs 250 crore, will be operational by early next year.

Union minister for food processing industries, Subodh Kant Sahay, who reviewed the implementation of the park today, said that “ground level activities” at the site was underway and “by this time of next year” it would be operational.

A special purpose vehicle (SPV) – Northeast Mega Food Park Ltd, was formed earlier to implement the project.

The project is being developed through public-private-partnership mode and the Centre is providing an assistance of Rs 50 core to the project.

Assam Small Industries Development Corporation (ASIDC) and Assam Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) have minority stakes in the project. “The establishment of the Food Park in Assam will be a notable achievement for the state and the region as this would help transform the agricultural sector by fostering value addition and provide the thrust for shift from conventional farming practices to a market-driven one,” said Sahay.

Sahay said that the Food Park is expected to leverage an investment of about Rs 200-250 crore in the form of food processing units proposed to be set up in the park. He added that the park would attract “sizeable” amount of foreign direct investments (FDI).

“This is a unique project and first of its kind in the state as well as in Northeast because this is the only project which addresses the needs of the farmers and ensures a sizeable investment,” Sahay said.

In addition, Primary Processing Centres (PPC) would come up at Badarpur, Nagaon, Kajalgaon, Krishnai and Barapani and 19 Collection Centres (CCs) will be linked to the PPCs.

Sahay said that North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation (NERAMAC) and Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) will act as marketing agencies to provide further market linkages to the Park. Multi commodity cold stores, dry warehouses, pre-cooling, sorting grading and washing lines, packaging facilities, reefer van, quality control and testing laboratories and factory sheds for micro and tiny units are few facilities that would be available in the Park.