Tamil Nadu to get first medical park, over 300 acres of land for the purpose

Chennai: The city’s extended suburb will boast of the first medical devices manufacturing park in the country very soon with the Union Cabinet on Wednesday allowing HLL Lifecare, a miniratna public sector firm, to sub-lease over 300 acres of land for the purpose.

Part of Narendra Modi’s ambitious “Make in India” campaign, the first medical park of the country would be set up at Chengalpet near Chennai and it will be funded through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) with HLL being a 50 per cent shareholder.

The proposed Medipark would be the first manufacturing cluster in the medical technology sector in the country, and is expected to play a significant role in the development of medical devices and technology industry and allied disciplines.

“The Medipark project will be the first manufacturing cluster in the medical technology sector in the country, envisaged to boost local manufacturing of hi-end products at a significantly lower cost, resulting in affordable healthcare delivery, particularly in diagnostic services to a large section of people,” an official statement said.

The Medipark will be developed in phases, spread over seven years for completion and in the first phase, physical infrastructure will be developed while the plots will be leased from the third year onwards. Knowledge management center will be developed in the second phase.

HLL will sublease 330.10 acres of land to investors, through a transparent bidding process to investors desirous to set up manufacturing units for medical equipment and devices, officials said.

In the initial phase, the land cost to the qualifying entrepreneurs from medical device and equipment, manufacturing industry will be at a subsidised rate to attract others and the rate will go up gradually as the demand picks up, they said.

The project will also reduce the dependence on imports and create a strong base for the growth of indigenous and domestic industry by providing access to state-of-the-art infrastructure and technology. HLL Lifecare, through a subsidiary, is also setting up an Integrated Vaccine Complex in Chengalpattu to manufacture various vaccines.