VIJAYAWADA: The State government has decided to develop 26 common facility integrated production centres (one in each Lok Sabha constituency) in two phases with a total outlay of Rs 3,600 crore as part of the AP Food Processing Policy 2020-25. The government has received an in-principle sanction of Rs 1,000 crore from the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) for the phase one unit. In the first phase, 10 different projects will be taken up in 22 locations.
Out of the 10 projects, the first one is the integrated spices processing unit, which will be set up in Narasaraopet Lok Sabha constituency at a cost of Rs 308.88 crore. The integrated fruit processing unit in Rajampet will be set up at a cost of Rs 295.77 crore. Banana and stem fibre products unit will be set up in Kadapa with Rs 121.71 crore.
A mango jelly unit with an outlay of Rs 23.72 crore will come up in Kakinada. Jaggery and confectionery products unit will be set up in Anakapalle, a groundnut processing unit in Hindupur with Rs 73.22 crore and a tomato processing unit in Nandyal with Rs 165.54 crore. Araku will have a coffee processing unit at a cost of Rs 64.4 crore, while Machilipatnam will get a fish and shrimp processing unit with an outlay of Rs 100 crore. Further, there will be secondary millet processing units at 13 locations with a total outlay of Rs 63.96 crore. In the second phase, another 17 projects have been proposed.
According to Principal Secretary (Agriculture Marketing and Food Processing) Chiranjiv Choudhary, common facility integrated production centres will be operated under the plug-and-play PPP model, where the government will create the modern secondary plug-and-play food processing units with necessary infrastructure and give the same on a long term lease (block period of 15 years) to O&M partner (reputed MNCs or private firms) on a fixed fee and or revenue sharing towards lease amount payable to the State on monthly, quarterly or annual basis.