The AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation has in-principle decided to allot 10 acres near Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City (JNPC) at Parawada for establishment of a joint administrative complex housing the Andhra Pradesh campus of Pharmaceutical Council of India (Pharmexcil).

A team of officials from Pharmexcil, an authorised agency under the Ministry of Commerce for promoting exports of pharmaceutical products, recently inspected the proposed site.

The team was led by Pharmexcil Director-General P.V. Appaji and senior advisor Lanka Srinivas.

Minister for Health Kamineni Srinivas also gave a go-ahead to the project.

The joint administrative complex will have Pharmexcil office, comprising skill development centre, convention centre, library and R&D facility, Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation, Directorate General of Foreign Trade, AP State Drugs Control Administration, Central, and State drug control laboratories. A senior official of the APIIC told The Hindu on Monday that allotment of land was being coordinated by their head office in Hyderabad.

"The decision to open the offices of Pharmexcil and other departments will certainly help North Andhra turn into a big destination for pharma exports," said Bulk Drug Manufacturers Association (India) president Jayant Tagore.

JNPC officials said that the plots in the 2,400-acre Special Economic Zone and non-SEZ at Parawada had been allotted.

Consequently, the APIIC is planning to develop an exclusive cluster for pharma units in the APSEZ at Atchutapuram.

The JNPC, set up in mid-2000 in PPP mode by the APIIC and Ramky, has attracted an investment of Rs. 10,000 crore with jobs to 13,000. Out of 103 units that have been sanctioned plots, 68 are in operation and 15 in various stages of construction. The JNPC accounts for an estimated turnover of Rs. 12,000 crore.