Himachal Builds Rs 350 Cr Medical Devices Park, Rejects Central Funding

Shimla, Jul 27 (PTI) The Union government would have no stake in Rs 350-crore Medical Device Park coming up at Nalagarh in Solan district as the state government has decided to construct the park from its own resources and return Rs 30 crore received from the centre, according to a release.

The decision has been taken in the interest of the state.

The project would come up in over 265 acres of land and in case Rs 30 crore received from the centre was not returned, the land would have been provided to industrialists at the rate of Re 1 per square meter, electricity at Rs 3 per unit and water, maintenance and warehouse facilities, free of cost for ten years, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said.

The state government has so far spent Rs 74.95 crore for the project, a statement issued here on Saturday said.

Keeping the interests of the state and steering out of the bindings, the government has decided to build the Park by itself as the project when commissioned would accrue benefits amounting to Rs 500 crore from the sale of land and other resources in the next five to seven years, he added.

The state government will take a loan from SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India) under the cluster development scheme for the construction of the medical device park and with restructuring of the project, 25 per cent of the land will be allotted exclusively for medical device industries and 75 per cent for other strategic industries, he said.

The industrial park will be developed as a modern industrial hub which will become a perennial source of income for the state government along with economic development and better infrastructure in the coming years, he said.

Earlier also the state government had decided not to take help from any private agency in the Bulk Drug Park being built at Haroli of Una district and the government will provide Rs 1,000 crore from its own resources, the statement added.