US firm’s arm to develop Biotech Park

The state government along with the Union government’s Department of Biotechnology with assistance of Ernst and Young Private Limited had short listed this company as there were only two bidders for this project which is being developed in Knowledge City in Sector 81,Mohali.

The park which is spread out over 75 acres will have anchor tenant facility for large and medium scale companies for high-end research and development projects,built-to-suit sites for small scale industry for R&D and processing,multi-tenanted facilities for research and development by start up companies and a service arcade that would provide common facilities and utilities to the industry.

It will establish a 10 acre agri food biotechnology facility,a 15 acre R&D agri-food sector and also bio-pharma,bio-energy and bio-services besides service apartments,commercial office space,retail space,recreation and entertainment area and utility support services.

As per the MoU the company will have to complete at least one lakh square feet of built-up laboratory space at the end of third year,by the fourth year it will have to complete two lakh square feet of laboratory space and by fifth year it will have to complete five lakh square feet of built-up laboratory space and by tenth year ten lakh square feet of space. The land will be given in two phases for a period of 66 years.

The state government has formed a joint venture company called Mohali Biotechnology Park to over see the development of the project.

ARE Mauritius No 3 Limited has already developed biotech parks in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. It has a life science complex in New York and a Biotechnology cluster in Boston. The qualifications for the bidder was that it should have a turn-over of Rs 100 crores and experience in the development of industrial parks of which 25 acres have been developed and sold or leased.

The Department of Science and Technology bought the 75 acres of land at Rs 70 lakh per acre. It will lease this land to the bidder thus bringing in revenue for the the government.

Vishwajeet Khanna,Secretary of Science and Technology (Punjab),said” “It will boost the knowledge driven economy of the state by providing facilities for the biotechnology industry. It will provide plug-in facilities for researchers to start knowledge based enterprises and will generate employment. It will take agricultural productivity to the next level and provide a boost to pharma and other high-tech sectors.’’