Telangana: Medical Devices Park, Genome Valley expansion plans in limbo

It has been one year since the Congress government came to power in the State, but the expansion of Sultanpur Park and Genome Valley has not fructified so far.

Hyderabad: The Medical Devices Park at Sultanpur and the Genome Valley at Shamirpet have played a crucial role in taking Telangana’s life sciences sector footprint to a new level in the global market. That was in the past. Now, the expansion of these hubs is inexplicably getting delayed even as the demand for space continues to increase.

The ‘Made in Telangana’ stents and other medical equipment, including surgical, ophthalmic and cosmetic medical devices and medical dressings, manufactured at the Medical Devices Park are being exported to over 89 countries. Similarly, the Genome Valley is now a hub for nearly 200 leading life sciences R&D institutions, incubators, clean manufacturing companies like Novarties, Glaxosmithkline and others.

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Considering the growing demand for space and the potential for inviting more companies to set up their units, the Telangana government in the past had envisaged grand plans for expanding both the Medical Devices Park and Genome Valley.

It has been one year since the Congress government came to power in the State, but the expansion of Sultanpur Park and Genome Valley has not fructified so far.

Launched in 2017, the Medical Devices Park at Sultanpur in Patancheru is the country’s largest medtech R&D, innovation and manufacturing cluster. Spread over 300 acres, it is also Asia’s largest stent manufacturing facility with a capacity of a million stents and 1.25 million balloon catheters. The Medical Devices Park is strategically located with a 40 minute-drive from the HITEC city and a 50 minute-drive from the international airport.

The BRS government had planned to expand the park by pooling in an additional 300 to 400 acres. To this effect, the Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC) was entrusted with the task to execute the expansion plans, particularly land acquisition.

According to TGIIC officials, the exercise got delayed due to land litigation. Things were being expedited, they said.

On the other hand, the Genome Valley expansion also continues to get delayed for reasons better known to the officials. In February this year, the State government had announced plans for expansion of the Genome Valley project with Rs.2,000 crore.

In fact, at the inauguration of the BioAsia 2024 meet in the city, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had declared that the State government would promote a 300-acre second phase of the project. After all these months, the plans remain confined to papers.