Andhra Pradesh to get two more mega food parks with Rs 1,300 crore investments

HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh, which got India's first mega food park at Chittoor in 2012, is slated to have two more mega food parks, one each in Telangana and Seemandhra regions, which together expected to attract around Rs 1,300 crore of investments.

While the one to come up in Nizamabad will focus on agricultural produce, the food park proposed in Bhimavaram of West Godavari district will cater to aquaculture products, said the promoters of the two proposed food parks. On attaining full-scale operations, these parks are expected to provide employment to around 2,000 people each.

Talking to journalists in Hyderabad on the sidelines of an Assocham meeting on Friday, Mohan Patalolla, promoter and director of Smart Agro Industries Corporation, said, "We are investing around Rs 120 crore on creating physical infrastructure for a mega food park, which will come in Nizamabad district over about 370 acres of land. We expect to attract investments from 10-15 units with cumulative investments of around Rs 500 crore over the next two years."

Further, Patalolla said Smart Agro promoters are looking at setting up a maize processing unit at around Rs 60 crore and a dairy processing facility involving an outlay of Rs 30 crore in the food park.

Aimed at encouraging the food-processing sector, the union government had in August last year approved a proposal to set up 12 mega food parks across the country during the 12th five-year plan period that ends in March 2017 involving an allocation of over Rs 1,700 crore.

Director of Godavari Mega Aqua Food Park, U. Jogi Anand Varma, said the company expects to attract at least 30 fish and prawn processing units to come up in their food park where they are investing around Rs 120 crore on the physical infrastructure. "Bhimavaram is an ideal location for setting up units for value-added aqua products for both domestic and export markets. We expect these 30 processing units to invest around Rs 800 crore over the next 18-24 months."

Andhra Pradesh's principal secretary for food processing JSV Prasad said, "We expect the two new mega food parks to be ready by end of 2015. While the Nizamabad food park will cater to processing of agricultural crops, the food park at Bhimavaram will cater to aquaculture."

Srini Food Parks, the country's first mega food park in Chittoor district, had commenced operations in 2012 over 147 acres involving an investment of around Rs 150 crore.