The Gujarat Pharma Techno Park, coming up at Changodar near Ahmedabad, is likely to take off within the next six months to one year.
The Central Government gave clearance to the park about five months ago. Main promoter of the park, the Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA) Gujarat State Board, has entrusted the Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL & FS) to further develop the park, Deepak Padia, Chairman of the Gujarat Pharma Techno Park told Pharmabiz.
According to him, the Central Government's decision to allow excise free zones in J&K, Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh has come as a big setback for the park, which was planned by IDMA-GSB about five years ago. Though the rush by pharma companies to these zones and the floods during last year have delayed the project by at least a year, the promoters are hopeful of commissioning the park in 2006, said Deepak Padia.
Major companies including Zydus Cadila, Osho Pharma, Five Star Pharma, West Coast Pharma, Ishita Pharma, Bilcare Industries- Pune, Sunij Pharma, Elite Pharma, Bonsai Pharma, Cambridge Pharma- Mehsana, Que Pharma, Irich Pharma, Medico Pharma etc. have taken space in the park to set up formulation units.
The project is envisaged to have quality civil infrastructure, captive power plant, common testing laboratory and common effluent treatment plant. The technical consultant of the project is Dalal Mott MC Donald.
Thirty-five units have been allocated land in the park. The park will house more than 30 pharmaceutical and formulation units and five to six ancillary units over an area of 1,60,000 square yards. Total cost including infrastructure comes to around Rs 10 crore. The total investment would be approximately Rs 300 crore. Many small-scale units will also be setting up their facilities. The project is claimed to be the first cluster development project for pharmaceutical sector in India.
This project mainly focuses on the export oriented units and with the revised GMP, the units will be able to fight in international market. The promoters have roped in SMPS as consultants and Jani & Company as legal advisers. A Netherlands-based leading architect also had visited the facility with an infrastructure plan matching international standards.
The Gujarat State Government will fund about Rs 2.5 crore for the Gujarat Pharma Techno Park and has assured to offer nil stamp duty for registration of land by declaring the park as under the state's industrial policy incentives. The Gujarat Government will fund the project through its industrial infrastructure arm, Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board (GIDB).