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$60 mn pharma city to come up at Visakhapatnam

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to set up a pharma city near the port city of Visakhapatnam to give a major boost to the pharmaceutical industry in this southern state.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said the pharma city would come up on a 5,000-acre site and the government would soon pick up the developer for setting it up. The development of infrastructure at the pharma city would require an outlay of $60 million.

"The pharma city with world-class research facilities will come up at Parwada near Visakhapatnam. Thus, the coastal city will become the second hub of pharma industry in the state. With several leading bulk drug companies, Hyderabad is already known as the pharma capital of India," Naidu pointed out at his inaugural address at the conference on 'Andhra Pradesh-an ideal Gateway to the Chemical World' that opened in Hyderabad on Friday.

Andhra Pradesh is contributing to about one-third of the total production of pharmaceuticals in the country. During 2000-01, India produced $1.66 billion of bulk drugs and $3.9 billion of formulations, and Andhra Pradesh's contribution stood at $462 million and $1.15 billion respectively.

The proposed pharma city and the mega chemical complex between Viskhapatnam and Kakinada were the focus of the deliberations on the first day of the two-day conference, being attended by representatives from chemical, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the officials of the state government. The meet focuses on the potential of the state in the chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors.

A document prepared by Ernst & Young and released at the conference, pointed out that with a major port and abundant resources, Visakhapatnam is an ideal destination for local and global entrepreneurs. It is already host to many industry majors.

The pharma city is to be located close to four-lane Asian Development Bank-supported National Highway No 5 connecting Chennai and Kolkata.

Adequate fuel and service corridors are also being planned along with a proposed railway siding. The pharma city will be only 20 km away from the airport and the seaport.

It will have the benefits of being close to Visakhapatnam, which is South Asia's largest all-weather seaport and has extensive and varied cargo handling facilities.

The proposed greed field deep-water seaport at Gangavaram and the Special Economic Zone, comprising 3,680 hectares, will be noteworthy value-additions to the pharma city.

A pharma task force, with the chief minister as the chairman and representatives from pharmaceutical companies as members, is already working to identify the problems faced by the pharma sector and examine issues arising from liberalisation and the impact of agreements, under World Trade Organisation, on the industry. The task force would recommend a suitable policy framework to position the state as pre-eminent destination for pharmaceutical industry.

Chandrababu Naidu said that he was keen to see a growth triangle of India, Japan and Singapore to develop the mega chemical complex in the state.

The Rs 350 billion complex would house 100 to 150 chemical, petrochemical and pharma companies.

He told the industry leaders that they would not find any place in India better than Hyderabad. He listed out the initiatives taken by his government in developing world-class infrastructure and a strong knowledge base required for the knowledge-intensive chemical industry.

He pointed out that several companies had occupied the laboratories under the first phase of ICICI Knowledge Park near Hyderabad. The second phase would commence later this year.

He also briefed about the steps taken to promote biotech sector with the development of Biotech Park near Hyderabad.

At the conference, three biotechnology companies were handed over certificates of allotment of sites at the park. In order to further boost the sector, the government proposed to develop Genome Valley on 600 square kilometers on the outskirts of Hyderabad, the chief minister added.

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