Mega food park by June; units on offer for food processing companies
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, May 23, 2011:
The long-awaited and much-delayed mega food park project in Manipur is on the verge of completion and likely to be set up by June 2011, according to a source from Manipur Food Industries Corporation Ltd (MFICL).
With a view to ensure processing of a wide variety of foods in Manipur, the Government of Manipur with support from the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) decided to set up a food park at Nilakuthi, near Imphal, as the state is bestowed with varieties of pineapple, orange, lemon, kiwi fruit, passion fruit, gooseberry, ginger, turmeric, chillies, cardamom and cinnamon.
"The project which started around 2000-2001 lack progress due to paucity of funds, but now with the clearing of financial commitments from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and other financial institutional assistances we have set up the food park," Jai Kumar, MD, MFICL, informed FnB News over telephone.
Kumar highlighted that the park would constitute around 40 to 55 processing units and the necessary infrastructure such as cold storages, warehouses, workshops and weighbridges, and other common facilities like power and water supply would be made available.
He further informed that interested entrepreneurs willing to set up processing units in the food park could avail of loans from nationalised banks under approval of MoFPI.
Kumar added that the park, which has been set up roughly 10 km away from Imphal, has on offer 55 developed plots of 600 sq m each at a price of 5.10 lakh per unit.