Telangana Seeks Rs 3,418 Cr for Hyderabad Pharma City

The Telangana government has urged the Centre to provide financial assistance of Rs. 3,418 crore for Hyderabad Pharma City proposed to be developed near here.

Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao has written to Union Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Union Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

In the letter to Goyal, he requested the Centre to provide 'grant-in-aid' of Rs 1,318 crore for implementation of external infrastructure linkages and Rs 2,100 crore for the project towards Phase-1 internal infrastructure development.

The Hyderabad Pharma City project has been integrated as a priority node of proposed Hyderabad-Warangal Industrial Corridor project and feasibility study for the same has also been completed as per the National Industrial Corridor Development & Implementation Trust (NICDIT) guidelines.

KTR, as the minister is popularly known, stated that the project will be first-of-its-kind featuring state-of-the-art infrastructure, common facilities including Zero Liquid Discharge-based Common Effluent Treatment Plant, an integrated solid waste management facility, district heating and cooling systems, logistic parks, a Global Pharma University, regulatory facilitation cells, common drug development and testing laboratories, and startup/SME hub.

The overall master planning for 19,333 acres, detailed master planning and detailed designs for the Phase-1 (8,400 acres) have been completed and as a major milestone in the development of the project, environmental clearance has already been accorded by Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry.

The Telangana government has already constituted special purpose vehicle in the name of Hyderabad Pharma City Ltd and the implementation of Phase-1 has been initiated. "You will be pleased to note that the project has received overwhelming response from both domestic and global companies to set-up manufacturing units," said KTR.

He mentioned that overall investment potential of the project is estimated to be around Rs 64,000 crore with employment generation of 5.6 lakh jobs.

KTR also wrote that the Hyderabad Pharma City promises to position India as the global manufacturing hub for pharmaceuticals. In order for a project of this nature and scale to succeed, it is imperative to have the strong support from Government of India, he said.

In the letter to Pradhan, KTR stated that the industrial units currently operating in pharma sector are primarily using coal as their fuel for generation of steam. Given the national importance of the project, the Minister requested the Centre to provide natural gas allocation on preferential tariff basis and reliable supply for project operations.

KTR wrote that the Hyderabad Pharma City (HPC) is the "World's Largest Integrated Pharma Park" to promote domestic manufacturing of pharmaceuticals in line with the "Make in India" initiative of the Government of India and to consolidate the leadership position of India in the pharmaceutical sector.