Punjab's first mega food park, which will involve capital infusion of up to Rs 150 crore, would be developed at Fazilka in Ferozepur district by a consortium led by agro unit International Fresh Farm Products.

"The Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries has awarded the Mega Food Park project to International Fresh Farm Products Ltd for its development, which will see an investment of Rs 130 crore to 150 crore, and the Park will be set up at Fazilka," a senior official of Punjab Agro Industries Corporation (PAIC), which is the nodal agency for agro and food processing industries, said here.

To be spread across 50 acres of land, the park would boast of hi-tech infrastructure meant for agro or food-processing sector along with value chain from farm to market that would help in attracting investments in food processing sector and fetch remunerative returns for farmers.

The proposed park would also have Central Processing Centre (CPC), where food processing units would be set up, supported by common infrastructure and farm level facilities in the form of collection centres and primary processing centres and other need based infrastructure.

Punjab is among the four states, which have been termed as potential location for setting up a park by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries.

Following the invitation by PAIC seeking applications for setting up of Parks, six companies including Bector?s Food (Cremica Group), Brattle Foods and International Farm Fresh had submitted their proposals. .

"We are hoping to complete setting up of Mega Food Park (MFP) in 18 to 24 months," said Sukhinder Singh, promoter of International Fresh Farm, which was awarded the project.

As per the proposal, Sukhinder Singh and his associate, Amritsar based Narain Export Import and Citrus state Tahliwala Jatta would also be part of this project.

A special purpose vehicle in the name of International Mega Food Park has also been floated, which would be responsible for establishing, operating and maintaining the MFP.

The SPV would also be eligible for availing one time capital grant support to the extent of 50 per cent of project cost with maximum ceiling of Rs. 50 crore from the Centre.

Stating that the MFP would be a boon for state farmers as it would open new marketing channel for them for their agri produce, Singh said industries representing different verticals including milk processing, grain processing, power plant, vegetable processing have already shown interest in setting up their base in MFP.

With 4.170 million hectares of well-irrigated land under farming, Punjab produces over 21 per cent of total wheat output and 11 per cent of rice. Besides, it produces 2.80 million tonne of vegetables including potato, root crops, tomato, onion, peas etc. The state also produces 1.05 million tonne of fruits such as citrus, mango, pear, orange, grapes and lemon.