The Tidco Centre for Life Sciences (TICEL Bio Park), the first of its kind project in the country, promoted by the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) in collaboration and technical assistance from the Cornell University, US, will be commissioned by early next year.

This was announced by State Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa at seminar on ‘Emerging Opportunities –Tamilnadu, in Chennai, yesterday.

According to various sources, the TICEL Bio Park, coming up at the information technology corridor at Taramani in the suburbs of Chennai at an investment of over Rs.62 crore on a 1.20 lakh sq.ft. area, was scheduled for commissioning by August this year, as per the initial plan.

The Bio Park is envisaged to focus on bio-generics, health, agriculture and food processing units, and over 30 units are likely to come up in its initial phase. The park will house wet labs with latest equipment for R and D in biotechnology, fermentation lab, including microbiology, plant tissue culture lab and downstream processing laboratory.

The park is expected to offer immense possibilities for commercial exploitation in the areas of pharmaceuticals, food supplements and cosmetics, as smaller firms in the park are expected to develop drugs and pharmaceuticals for regional diseases, bigger companies will look at a larger canvas, say sources.

TIDCO has invested about Rs. 9 crore in the park as equity component, and other funds have been mobilized through Rs.20 crore of subordinated debt and Rs.33 crore in loans from banks and other financial institutions.

The Chief Minister, while talking at the seminar, hoped the TICEL Bio park would catalyze the efforts of the biotechnology industry in generating employment and growth.

She noted that the Association of Biotechnology Enterprises has estimated the turnover of the biotech industry at Rs.1830 crore with an export share of 53 percent, and has projected 20 percent compound annual growth rate for the next few years. This proves substantial opportunities exist in the fields of Biopharma, Bioinformatics and Bioservices, said the Chief Minister.