By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, March 7, 2015 :

A mega food park at an estimated cost of Rs 80 crore will soon come up at Rayagada in south Odisha. The park is being developed over 50 acres of land and is one of its kind Special Economic Zone [SEZ] in the state for the promotion of the Food Processing Industry.

The major components of the project include core processing facilities, factory building and micro, small and medium enterprises [MSME] sheds, modern paddy processing complex, pack house complex, cold storages, dry warehouse complex, quality facilitation lab and and multi fruit processing complex, officials said here.

Work is under progress with infrastructure being beefed up. The factory and sheds for MSME are coming up. Target has been set to complete all sheds by end of March, 2015. The construction of modern dry warehouse of 10,000 MT capacity has made good progress and the work is expected to be completed by May this year. Few Israel companies have shown keen interest in setting up poultry facilities in MITS Mega Food Park at Rayagada, sources said.

Similarly, in modern paddy complex, raising of foundation has been completed for all 93 mills. The milling area and husk yard area have already been developed. The boundary wall of 495 mts has already been completed and temporary site office has been set up.
“The Mega Food Park is an inclusive concept which is aimed at establishing direct linkages from the farm to processing and on to the consumer markets, through a network of collection centers and Primary Processing Centers. Efficient logistics facilities will connect the collection centers to the primary processing centers, which in turn will be connected to a central processing centre by hub and spoke model”, the sources said.

A Special Purpose vehicle has been formed under the name MITS Mega Food Park Ltd with IDCO, BCT, Kevenetor Agro and Expo Biotech as partners. The SPV has made tie up with end users like Rowan Mills Pvt Ltd and Excel Beverages. The vendors from various sectors like civil construction, Milling Technology, Fabrication, Parboiling and Boiler etc have been involved in construction of various segments of the Park.

Reviewing the progress of Rayagada Mega Park, chief secretary Gokul Chandra Pati asked the project developers to submit a road map for completion and commissioning of the project indicating timeline against each of the components. Chief Secretary further directed them to install rain water harvesting structures and be self sufficient in water management without using the ground water. They have been asked to put in place the systems of waste management and affluent treatment from the very beginning.

MSME secretary Panchanana Das, who was present during the review meeting, outlined the issues for discussion and the project developer presented the updates. Agriculture principal secretary Rajesh Verma, present in the meeting has been advised to take up definite action plan for linking the farmers with the Park and mobilizing them to cultivate export quality paddy with buy-back arrangements.