With all its diverse bio-resource waiting to lend an edge to development technologies, Himachal Pradesh is ready with a proposal to establish a Rs 200-crore biotechnology park near Nalagarh, in Solan district.

The Biotechnology Park and Biotech Incubator will come up on 35 acres of prime land in public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

United Kingdom-based multinational Matt MacDonald Private Limited, which was engaged to prepare the feasibility report for the project, has already submitted the business and financial plans. All clearances required for the park have been obtained to kickstart the process for establishing the park, according to sources. The state Cabinet’s approval is likely in a few weeks.

The park will have two key components—Bio-tech Incubator, for which the Centre has already provided Rs 9 crore, and the main park that the private investors will establish with their commercial and resource and development ventures—with direct linkages to the industry, socio-economic sectors and Himalayan bioresources available within the state.

“The primary objective will be to make it a premier centre for generating cost-effective technological packages for industries and establish a critical state-of-the-art infrastructure for future biotechnology products. There will be a serious effort to bring novel biotechnology products to markets and speed up economic development through technology transfer,” said Dr Nagin Nanda, Director, Department of Biotechnology.

The park is expected to generate direct employment for 500 people, especially those exploring new avenues in the biotechnology institutes in Himachal. The Government has recently sanctioned a biotechnology university in the private sector.

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