Haryana government to make a global horticulture market in Sonipat, Ganaur
Asit Manohar, ET Bureau Jun 28, 2012, 02.33PM IST
PANIPAT: To make a world-class, modern, wholesale fruit and vegetable platform, the Haryana government has decided to make use of French expertise in horticulture marketing and develop an International Horticulture Market (IHM) in Ganaur and Sonipat.
The market will be spread across 493 acres with an investment of around Rs1,250 crore. Once the market becomes fully operational, Rs850 crore of business is expected annually.
"When 100 percent operational, the annual volume of the fruit and vegetable at IHM would be around 20 lakh metric tonne out of which 10 percent would come from exports and 90 from the domestic market," said Dr JS Yadav, member of expert committee, World Union of the Whole Sale Market. He added that the objective is to match with Paris and Rungis International Market for commodities of France.
Expected Turnover
"On an average we expect to get around Rs25 per kg of the horticulture product at IHM from the domestic market while Rs200 per kg from the export market and hence net export turnover would be around Rs400 crore while the expected domestic turnover would be around Rs450 crore," said Dr Yadav.
He said that France is experienced in marketing horticulture products across the world through the horticulture marketing hubs in Paris and Rungis.
Yadav added that IHM would have all the required infrastructural and administrative facilities for marketing like warehousing, transportation (domestic and international), market chain, loading and off loading etc.
Proposed Facilities
Chaman Lal, engineer in-chief, marketing board, Haryana said, "IHM is expected to become partially operational by August 2012 and most probably would be run on a public private partnership (PPP) model. Initially, there will be loading and unloading facility along with primary processing facility for the players at IHM."
Batting for the PPP model, he said that the marketing board was in consultation with the financial intermediaries such as IFCL, Nabard, World Bank etc. to provide easy access to fund for the private parties. He said that the French consultants have submitted a detailed project report (DPR) and it would take 5-6 month to take shape.
Surender Mohan Sharma, executive engineer at the Haryana Marketing Board said, "IHM would be developed in different phases and the first phase would be 10 years of which the first two years has been devoted to land and infrastructural developments."
Sharma said, "Ganaur is close to Azadpur which is a market of national importance. Around 30 percent of the total inflow and 28 percent of the total outflow of Azadpur Market passes through this route. Hence, Ganaur is a strategic location for setting up a modern hub as the road load factor for Ganaur is very high. 58 percent of the total arrival and dispatch from Azadpur passes Ganaur TMC."
He said that the proposed site is also well connected with major production areas of other adjoining states like Himachal Pradesh, Jammu, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Chandigarh.
"IHM would give boost to the frozen fruits and vegetable market. This is due to the increasing standards of life and to the progressive equipment of household in freezer. Therefore, the need for facilities for deep freezing and storing frozen products will develop. Taking advantage of existing services in the platform, specialised companies will be interested in locating their operations here," said Ajay Vir Jakhar, president, Bharat Krishak Samaj.
He said that IHM would ensure food safety, quality of product, hazard management, fire, food and sustainable development in the country.