Mega Food Park at Dolikoto village Receives Letters of Interest

Our Correspondent

Itanagar: Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Wednesday expressed satisfaction to note that so far the Mega Food Park coming at Dolikoto village, near Banderdewa in Papum Pare district, has received Letters of Interest (LoT) from twelve entrepreneurs for setting up food industries in it.

Of these, while nine are local entrepreneurs, three are multi-national companies. The total investment they would make in the Park stands at Rs 16.7 crore.

Taking details of the status report on implementation of the Food Park during a meeting here, Khandu said, “This is a good sign. We need to advertise and sell the feasibility of our Park so that many more local and multi-national companies set up industries here. Our farmers would hugely benefit from such food industries.”

While assuring to complete the responsibilities of the state government like providing road, water and power at the earliest, Khandu urged the promoter to expedite the ground work at the site.

He also suggested the departments of Agriculture and Horticulture to study the feasibility of produces that can be harvested in the state region-wise vis-à-vis their market demands and prices, an official communiqué informed.

As suggested by the promoter, Khandu called for focusing on produces like guava (Lalit), pineapple and lemon, which currently have huge demands in the food processing industries.

He said the State Government would strengthen backward linkages by providing assistance to farmers in producing raw materials required by the Food Park. The State Government would provide best quality saplings to local farmers on subsidized rates to promote backward linkages, he added.

Components of the Food Park also include two Primary Processing Centers – one at Bhalukpong in West Kameng district and other at Yachuli in Lower Subansiri.

The Scheme of Mega Food Park of Pradhan Mantri Kisan SampadaYojana of the union Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) aims at providing a mechanism to link agricultural production to the market by bringing together farmers, processors and retailers so as to ensure maximizing value addition, minimizing wastage, increasing farmers’ income and creating employment opportunities particularly in rural sector.

It is based on ‘cluster’ approach and envisages creation of state of art support infrastructure in a well-defined agri-horti zone for setting up of modern food processing units in the industrial plots provided in the park with well-established supply chain.

Mega Food Park typically consists of supply chain infrastructure including collection centers, primary processing centers, central processing centers, cold chain and around 25-30 fully developed plots for entrepreneurs to set up food processing units.

It may be noted that the scheme was sanctioned for Arunachal Pradesh with due persuasion of the Chief Minister on September 13, 2019 by the ministry.

The park is coming up at Dolikota village along the boundary with Assam. 75 acres of land has been procured for the project of which 50 acres has been provided for food industries.

The project promoter is in the process of developing the site and construction of internal infrastructure as per detailed project report (DPR) of the Union Ministry. The state government is providing the basic facilities such as road connectivity, water and power supply.

The park, coming up at an estimated cost of Rs 159 crore, would have facilities such as pet bottle line, warehouse, multi-chamber cold storage, tetra-packaging line, ripening chamber, food testing laboratory, automated sorting-grading line, canning line, weighing line besides other infrastructure like administrative building, commercial complex, power station and staff quarters.

It is envisaged that the park would bring huge investment in multi-sectoral food industries by attracting industrialists globally for setting up new ventures, which would generate employment and provide market to farmers of the state.

The park has earmarked 27 units of food industries that would be open for grabs by industrialists and entrepreneurs. For a project cost of Rs 10 crore, the union ministry would provide a grant of Rs 5 crore to entrepreneurs setting up food industries in the park, which amounts to Rs 270 crores of investment in the state.

Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, officials of the departments of Planning, Industries, Agriculture and Horticulture, promoter Likha Maj and representatives of banks were present in the meeting.

Also Read: Bagra & Team Take Stock of Mega Food Park near Dolikota village

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