The task force, constituted by the government of Goa recently to boost the growth of the pharma industry in the state, has recommended to set up an exclusive 500-acre pharma park for the small and medium scale manufacturers in the state.

The task force was constituted by the state government with a view to address various issues being faced by the industry, while taking important decisions, in consensus with the numerous stakeholders, to assist the development of the industry.

The state government's initiative in this regard comes in the wake of a representation on the issue made by the Goa Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association (GPMA), to address the growing issue of lack of industrial land for development of the pharma sector within Goa.

It is understood that the task force, headed by Atul Pai Kane chairman for Goa State Council of CII, based on the representation is already working on the possibility of establishing a unique pharma park in the state, wherein 80 per cent of the land will be allocated to the pharma companies, whereas, the rest of the 20 per cent will be reserved for ancillary industry like packaging etc.

With a view to ensure equal opportunity to expand and grow through this project, the association, in their representation, had demanded the government to constitute a special committee, with GPMA as its member, for overseeing the allotment of land to the interested companies. According to A K Burman, president, GPMA, “This is to ensure that the whole process of allotment is done in a democratic and transparent way, so as to avoid unjust allotment where major plots of land are siphoned off by select companies. Lack of industrial land is a huge issue that we are grappling with and thus steps need to be taken to ensure that we utilise this opportunity wisely.”

Further the representation clearly states that interested pharma companies should not be allowed to posses more than four to five acres from the land allotted within the pharma park so as to give all the companies a fair chance to expand. As per the representation, the park is also expected to have a common cold chain, storage and supply chain facility for helping the small and medium scale pharma companies to reduce their cost on transportation and storage.