Pharma park at Nanguneri planned

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Government plans to set up a 250-acre industrial park for the pharmaceutical industry at the Nanguneri Hi-Tech Industrial Park in Tirunelveli district.

The Health Minister, Mr K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran, in his reply to the demand for grants to his department in the Assembly today, said that the pharma park would have facilities for 50 large pharmaceutical units and 10 ancillaries.

This would generate over 2,800 jobs directly and 2,800 indirectly. The pharma park would be able to export drugs estimated at about Rs 500 crore a year. According to Mr Ramachandran, in the last three months, 23 new tablet-manufacturing units have been set up in Tamil Nadu.

It may be recalled that the Government had promoted the Nanguneri Hi-Tech Industrial Park, which was later approved as a special economic zone, in 2001. It was expected to attract investments of over Rs 8,000 crore from non-polluting industries in electronics, telecommunication components, consumer durables, information technology, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and light and precision engineering.

It was seen as a catalyst for the economic development of the southern districts. ATMAC Ltd, a special purpose vehicle, was promoted jointly by the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation and the US-based INFAC Group and Axes Technologies Inc to set up the Rs 700-crore industrial park.