Although the Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA) has announced many incentives to woo pharma and biotech companies to the state, no significant investments have come to the state so far due to delay in establishing adequate infrastructure.

KINFRA has so far attracted over Rs.288 crore worth investment in various segments through its 16 odd theme based industrial parks. Out of this, the share of pharma and biotech sectors is very small. Further, most of the pharma-biotech projects announced by KINFRA are yet to take off or are in the preliminary stages of implementation. Many of them still are still in the blueprint form.

The 36 acre KINFRA Small Industries Park (K-SIP) at Thumba near Thiruvananthapuram, envisaged with six thrust areas including drugs and pharmaceuticals, and offered with a lease premium for developed land allotted on 90 year lease hold basis at Rs.15.11 lakhs per acre, is yet to attract any significant ventures from the pharma sector. Though it was proposed to give thrust to pharmaceutical industries by setting up a pharma park at Koratty near Thrissur, the envisaged Koratty K-SIP park is currently being promoted with thrust areas like building materials, plastic products, general engineering, ceramic products etc., KINFRA sources told Pharmabiz.

However, KINFRA pins its hopes of attracting major investments to the state with some of the proposed recent projects like the Hi-Tech park at Kalamassery in the suburbs of Ernakulam, the second phase of the KINFRA Export Promotion Industrial Parks Ltd. at Kakkanad near Kochi, two biotech parks including a biotech specific Technology Incubation Center (TIC) at Kochi and Thumba and a herbal village at Wyanad.

According to KINFRA sources, the hi-tech park at Kalamassery is envisaged to become an International Information Development Center with a vital position in the global trade scenario for the IT and biotech industries. This 200 acre park with various zones of world class infrastructure will be an "Intelligent "Park designed to promote the development of the pollution free, high value added, knowledge intensive manufacturing industry.

While the Kerala Biotechnology Park is coming on a 50-acre plot in the hi-tech park, the park at Thiruvananthapuram will be a 25-acre facility housed within the premises of the KINFRA Apparel Park coming up near Thumba. Both the parks have been identified to give thrust for developing immuno diagnostics and vaccines in the healthcare sector, tissue culture and extraction of medicinal plants in the agri-biotech sector, bio-pesticides and bio-fertilizers, besides enzymes in the industrial biotech sector.

The parks are planned to be a combination of the Technology Incubation Centre (TIC), pilot plant and an exclusive Business Enterprising Zone (BEZ). While the TIC's will provide the modules for research and development in biotechnology, the BEZ's consists of developed plots to be utilized for setting up the units.

KINFRA has already acquired a 50-acre plot behind the HMT company premises at Kalamassery for setting up the park.

Further, KINFRA is planning to develop a 750-acre herbal village in the valley of High Ranges in Wyanad, in association with the private players. KINFRA will make available the land for entrepreneurs with necessary infrastructure for commercial cultivation of herbal and medicinal plants. The herbal village will be a combination of plantations, semi-processing units, neighborhood villages for contract farming, collection center and R& D units, wherein 60 per cent of the land will be earmarked for cultivation of the herbs and medicinal plants. Firms like S.D.Pharmacy and Kottackal Arya Vaidya Sala have already evinced interest in the project, according to sources.

However, most of the proposed projects including the biotech parks and the herbal valley are still in the initial stages of implementation despite the announcements about at least six months to one year ago. Some of the projects like the biotechnology parks and the herbal village were in the pipeline for more than three years, noted sources.