KTR seeks Rs. 5,000 crore for upcoming projects

HYDERABAD: As the Central government has approved several projects in Telangana, the information technology minister K. T. Rama Rao requested the Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to allocate Rs 5,000 crore funds to the state in the ensuing Budget to set up the projects in the state.

The minister wrote to Nirmala Sitharaman explaining the projects being taken up by the state government and their capacity in providing jobs to lakhs of people in Telangana. Rama Rao said the world’s largest pharmaceutical cluster was being developed by the Telangana government with an objective of promoting domestic manufacturing and exports of pharmaceuticals in line with the “Make in India" initiative of the Union government.

"The project has received the final approval for ‘National Investment and Manufacturing Zone’ (NIMZ) status from the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT). In various meetings in the department, Hyderabad Pharma City has been recognised as a project of national importance," Rama Rao said.

He further stated that the Telangana government had already constituted Hyderabad Pharma City Limited and initiated the implementation of Phase-1 (in sub-phases). "The project has received overwhelming response from both domestic and global companies to set up manufacturing units. Overall investment potential of the project is estimated to be around Rs 64,000 crore with a capacity of generation of 5.6 lakh jobs direct and indirect," the IT minister said.

Rama Rao requested the Union finance minister to consider extending financial support to the projection of the following items as per the NIMZ scheme guidelines. Detailed project report (DPR) and a financial feasibility report were already submitted to the department. He reiterated that Hyderabad Pharma City promised to position India as the global manufacturing hub for pharmaceuticals. For a project of this nature, it was imperative to have strong support from the Centre, he said.

KTR seeks Centre’s aid for National Design Centre

The Telangana government is setting up the first National Design Centre (NDC) in Hyderabad. “The government is not setting up a new greenfield campus for NDC, instead, we are now planning to take up some space in the existing building of National Academy of Construction (NAC) for starting the NDC activities,” said K. T. Rama Rao.

He requested the Union finance minister's support for the initial capital expenditure mainly towards making the NDC functional through interior works, lab equipment and machinery, IT infrastructure and consultation expenses. The cost-sharing by the state government in operational expenditure will be in addition to the rent advantage that the state government has been able to obtain from NAC for renting the premises at Rs 28 per sq. ft. instead of Rs 43 per sq. ft. per month for the 14,000 sq. ft. space being considered for NDC operations.

Fundings for industrial corridors

The Union government must consider including the Hyderabad - Warangal and Hyderabad - Nagpur industrial corridors by NICDIT and for considering funding initially two nodes such as the Hyderabad Pharma City (HPC) and National Industrial Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ), Zaheerabad, requested IT minister K. T. Rama Rao on Sunday. According to him, the SPVs for both the nodes are in place and the required land is already acquired, the estimated project cost for taking infrastructure development in these two nodes is about Rs 3,000 crore and Rs 2,000 crore respectively. The IT minister requested the Union finance minister to include the budget to the extent of at least Rs 2,000 crores for each of the nodes under Hyderabad -Warangal, Hyderabad -Nagpur and additional nodes at Mancherial in the budget estimates for 2022-23.

Inclusion of Hyd in defence corridors sought

There are two Defence Industrial Production Corridors proposed in the Union Budget 2018-19. The Telangana IT minister requested the Union finance minister to consider including Hyderabad in the proposed Defence Industrial Production Corridor to augment and support the growth of defence manufacturing from Telangana. Telangana is strategically located in the centre of the country and home to several public sector defence enterprises.